Absolute: Book One
by jesi lily
Summary: Something are more than just… They are absolute. The story of Lily and James and everything that follows is absolute. Marauders Era AU
1. Chapter 1

Quiet was not something that she was really accustomed to, truthfully, it was something that came around only once a year. It was always at the same time, on the same day. An odd annual moment to remind her that things were constantly moving forward in a way she was not sure she was entirely prepared for.

11:07am on September 1st. It was the same each year, she'd drop off her eldest child to attend school once more, knowing that the time before she saw them again would seem like a lifetime, that when he returned to her, he would have changed slightly once more, gone were the days of cherub like rosy cheeks and cloaks that were just slightly too long with "he'll grow into them" excuses. 11:07am on September 1st, it was the moment without fail she returned home, forcing herself to become accustomed to this change. Before her other children would shatter it after a few moments, the shock subsiding after bidding their brother farewell once again – the first time it had lasted a full hour. Not this day, not this 11:07am on September 1st. She looked around the living room she had stepped into and felt the silence more then she heard it; it was the stillness in the atmosphere, the lack of curiosity that flew like baby birds leaving the nest for the first time, in short burst of fleeting panic and uncertainty but an underlying determination – as only the young could manage.

Taking a deep breath, she inhaled the calm, treasuring it for a moment, before feeling the deep pang of longing. She wanted the noise, the rush, the busyness of a house full of children.

Finally she drew herself together and with a great effort moved forward, perhaps this time it was not just the apparent loss of her children, but something worse, something darker. Finding herself in the large kitchen of the family home, she placed a metal kettle on the stove, turning it on until the small orange flames licked at the bottom of the metal. She moved without thought, setting about making herself a cup of tea. She barely noticed the owl that appeared at the kitchen window, but after repeated clicking of its beak against the window, threatening to crack the glass, she jolted to reality and promptly let the creature in through the window. Perching on the window sill it dropped the letter that had been help within its beak, before hooting once and turning, not waiting for her to read it.

Turning the yellowing envelope over in her hands her eyes scanned the address.

_Cora Potter_

_Kitchen_

_12 Swan Lane_

_Chudleigh_

_Devon_

Reading her name and address, Cora turned the envelope over once more and looked at the red wax seal, she knew it well. Hogwarts it read beneath the emblem of a lion, snake, eagle and badger. Slipping her finger beneath the flap, she broke the seal and opened it, pulling form it a yellowing piece of parchment.

_They are on the train, under my protection._

There was no signature or name, but there needn't have been, for she knew that handwriting, it was a relief to see. All the tension she'd been carrying in her body suddenly dispersed as she got that line of confirmation and promise. The sudden whistle of the kettle boiling made her jump, which in turn made her laugh at herself, grateful for the sudden lack of silence as she placed the letter on the counter top, and finished making her cup of tea. She took a tentative first sip, relishing the taste of hot tea, helping to settle her frayed nerves.

Unable to help herself, her eyes flittered back to the letter on the counter, looking so very innocent, but knowing there was so much more behind that piece of parchment.

"Look after them Albus."

* * *

"Was that really necessary?" A female voice asked pointedly, the female in question looked around the compartment that she was stood in; they were on a train, specifically The Hogwarts Express, on their journey to their school, Hogwarts, for the year. Usually this was a chaotic journey, even at the best of times. Between a bunch of new students, first years, who didn't really know what to suspect and a large group of magical teenagers all confined to a small space after not having seen each other for a summer – well it didn't lend itself to being a calm relaxing time. "I know you're excited James, but really, running through the train screaming like a banshee. Someone asked me if there'd been a murder."

"But Kate, it wasn't-" James tried to respond, before cutting himself off and crossing his arms over his chest, glaring at the girl before him, Kate. She was taller than him, older too, they both had ebony black hair and skin that was the exact same shade, not pale but not tanned either, sun kissed. "You won't tell mum will you?" The boy named James gritted out, almost grudgingly. "Or dad?"

"No, James, I won't tell mum and dad," Kate sighed, wiping a hand over her forehead. James was eleven years old, it was his first time on the Hogwarts Express, he was excited, she knew that much, but he was young and didn't see any consequence to his actions beyond their mother and father telling him off, at worst getting sent to bed without dinner. It wouldn't be like that now. He knew that, but she knew that he just needed time to adjust. He'd not really done anything wrong, but there was a lot he didn't know. "And I won't tell your parents either Black, but you two need to calm it down a bit. And for Merlin's sake, Black stay away from your cousin, she's a sixth year who knows more curses then you, no need to upset her."

With poorly hidden grins on their faces, the two boys looked at each other, before looking back at Kate and nodding their heads in unison. She knew in that moment that they were going to be more trouble than any of the professors at Hogwarts were ready for. With a final sigh, Kate disappeared from the room, leaving the two boys behind her, to snicker between them.

"Sirius, I don't think I've ever seen anyone so angry before!" James laughed, his hazel eyes bright as he looked towards the boy Kate had called Black – he was Sirius Black, with hair as dark as his name and an air about him of cheeky arrogance. He wasn't much like any other boy James had met, well, not their age. He liked him instantly.

"Narcissa is _always_ like that," Sirius assured James, looking equally amused as they sat down on the seats that lined the side of the compartment. "She's far too stuck up her own butt. Really, it's her own fault, if she weren't such a _girl_ then maybe there'd be no reason to wind her up." It was sound reasoning as far as James was concerned, after all, if she was going to react in exactly that way Sirius had assured him she would, well, it was basically like asking for it, really. "Anyway, it's not like we did anything bad… I just didn't expect her to be so quick to try and curse us."

"Girls." James sighed, though at eleven years old, his experience with females was mostly limited to growing up with an older sister and a few daughters of family friends. Sirius nodded solemnly, he knew well enough from his eleven years on this world that girls were difficult, he had three cousins who proved that well enough. All but one of them was completely insane, as far as he was concerned.

"Do you think you know what house you will be in?" Sirius asked, he wasn't worried, he knew the influence his family held and that it usually meant being placed within Slytherin, one of the four houses within Hogwarts, but he also knew it wasn't going to be the one he was in.

"Of course," James replied with certainty. "I'm a Potter, I'll be a Gryffindor. Just like Kate, Tom and Will."

"Are those all your siblings?" Sirius asked, he knew of the Potter family, had met James before once or twice at Ministry of Magic things, but he had never really paid attention before, his parents wouldn't really let him. James nodded in response, and Sirius wondered for a moment what it would have been like, to grow up with siblings, that you were so sure to follow. "What years are they in?

"Tom is in his seventh, he's Head Boy this year; Kate's in sixth, I think that's how she knows of Narcissa. Will is in his fourth year." James replied with a slight shrug, he was close to his siblings and excited to finally get the chance to attend Hogwarts with them, he just didn't want Sirius to know that, he wanted Sirius to think he was cool. He opened his mouth to say something else, but Sirius' eyes travelled past him, following something behind him, so much so, he tripped forward to continue looking at the thing. Curious, James followed, until both their noses were practically pushed against the glass pane of the window separating their compartment from the corridor that went along the length of the train.

All he could see was a small figure, with the longest red hair he had ever seen, it was the colour of rubies, deep and rich, it was curly, long lengths of big barrel curls that hung down her back, but he never saw her face. She paused along the train, peering into a compartment, before sliding the door open and disappearing inside – she'd been too far away for him to make out her features.

"Did you _see _her?" Sirius demanded suddenly, peeling his face from the window to look at James, there was a brightness in his silver eyes as he looked at James. There was a smile spreading across his aristocratic face, it was not a simple happy smile but more of a grin. "Maybe being at Hogwarts with girls won't be so bad, not if they all look like _her_."

* * *

With her face buried into a book, taking in each word on the page, she had barely registered that the door to her compartment had opened, until it banged softly against the compartment wall. Tearing her eyes from the page, she saw another girl stood there, she was about the same age with honey blonde hair and a round face, with freckles across her nose.

"Hi, I'm Lainey!" The girl chirped, moving into the room, she bounced with each step she took, a wide toothy grin across her face. She plopped herself down on the seat opposite her, and looked expectantly.

"Oh, er, I… I'm Lily," She responded, finally, closing her book over, careful to keep her finger in place so she didn't lose the page she was on. She didn't really know what to say, she was thoroughly overwhelmed. She'd trawled along the train until she'd found a quiet compartment she could have to herself, it appeared that would no longer be the case. "Lily Evans."

"Evans?" Lainey asked her, leaning forward, her elbows rest on her knees as she rested her chin in her hands. She looked thoughtful, as golden brown eyes considered something for a moment; Lily could only assume it was the name she had provided her with. "You're a muggle born, aren't you? I don't know any other Evans' who have kids with your hair colour, nothing even near it, I mean, there's Pawel Evans, who is about our age, but his whole family have brown hair – they're all a bit boring actually."

"Oh." Lily responded, uncertain if there was an appropriate response to her comments. She knew the term muggle born of course, Professor McGonagall had told her that what she was, when she had turned up on her door step only a couple of months ago. "Erm, yes, I am muggle born."

"That's cool, my nan, she was muggle born, so she was, her and my granddad used to have a right laugh together trying to get just about anything done. She was really curious, as was my granddad. The two of them together was something of a nightmare; dad reckons it kept them both young… I dunno, I don't think they were like other grandparents-" Lainey paused for a second, if only to catch her breath, and Lily blinked at her, she'd not spoken to anyone one on the train yet, and this girl could really talk. "So you the first in your family? Not ancestors you know of showed any signs? I wonder how your parents took it? Were they freaked? I bet there were, Mum says the muggles get it hardest because it's all new to them, but I dunno, I just think it's really cool."

With wide eyes Lily just nodded, seeing flashes of her own ruby curls as they darted forward as she did, she wanted to reply, but getting a word in edge ways was almost impossible. She opened her mouth and closed it, several time over, when Lainey suddenly cringed, for a moment Lily thought she might be in pain.

"I'm sorry; my mum says I always talk too much…" Lainey told her, suddenly apologetic. "Tell me about yourself Lily Evans."

* * *

"Who's that girl?" Sirius asked as they spied on the two girls sat in the compartment only a few along from the one they had abandoned for said spying purposes. They were watching the two talk; well, it was the blonde girl who seemed to speak the most, as she did her hands waved around, often in extravagant movements, occasionally causing the redhead to lean back away from their path.

"That's Adalaine; her dad is Darren O'Hare, the old captain of the Kenmare Kestrels. He was awesome according to my dad, one of the best keepers in the world; he was active for over thirteen years…" There was a wonder in James' voice that he was unable to cover, he loved quidditch. He'd received his first broom before he could even walk, had more falls then he would dare admit, but he had always loved the feeling of flying, he'd gone with his dad to watch matches while his siblings were at Hogwarts, he'd even met Darren O'Hare who signed a quaffle for him. "Wonder if she's any good at quidditch?"

"Who cares if she's good at quidditch!" Sirius exclaimed, looking highly affronted by James' distraction. "Have you seen her friend!"

Finally James turned to the girl that Sirius went on about, she was small, really small for their age, clearly a first year, James had never seen her before so he doubted she was a pureblood, not that it mattered much, but they tended to know each other. She was pale, almost white, with a mass of ruby curls hanging down her back, over her shoulders and in front of her – in fact, James had never seen anything with so much hair in his life before. She was completely swamped in her school uniform; clearly they hadn't been able to supply one that would fit better. He looked at her face, it was as pale as the rest of her, though she had a smattering of light beige freckles across her nose and cheeks, but that was the only thing that gave her any colour. She had a small pointed nose, and very pink lips. The only really outstanding thing about her, other then her hair were her eyes – he'd never seen anything like them, they were really big, and bright, the exact shade of emerald green that covered the Slytherin house.

"I know her hair is bright… but she's a bit normal looking isn't she?" James muttered, scuffing the toe of his shoe against the floor. She was just like any other girl, really. Just with odd colour hair and eyes.

"James, are you and me actually looking at the same thing?" Sirius demanded, clearly aghast at the suggestion James made.

"What are we looking at," A female voice suddenly piped, sounding curious and causing both the boys to jump and glare accusingly at the girl. She was their age also, looking curiously through the window at the two girls. She was all olive skin and long hair, not unlike the redhead, though this new girls was pulled back into a large knot at the back of her head, tied with a piece of white ribbon. "oooh, look at her hair, wish mine was that colour."

"Taliah," James sighed, recognition in his voice as he relaxed. The girl looked at him and smiled, which he returned. "You're gonna blow our cover, you know that right?"

"Why are you spying on two girls?" Taliah asked quietly as she snuck down beside the boy, hidden from the view of the two girls, if they were to look their way, but they seemed engrossed in conversation. She eyed the two boys speculatively as they shared a look.

"You're a girl," The boy who wasn't James stated; he was not unlike James, dark hair and light golden skin, but where James had warm hazel eyes, this new boys were a striking silver. "You wouldn't understand."

Indignant, Taliah didn't reply to his comment, instead she stood up with a bit of a flourish and pulled open the compartment door that held the two girls, causing them both to turn in their direction, and with the door open, revealing James and Sirius huddled on the floor.

"These two are spying on you," Taliah declared loudly, a smirk across her face as she did so. "Thought you might like to know."

"James…" The blonde girl James had earlier identified as Adalaine said as she looked at the boy as he pulled himself up from his squatting position, running a hand through his hair sheepishly as his cheeks reddened. Her brown eyes flickered to the boy who he was with, and she rolled them as recognition hit her, unlike James there was none of the sheepishness as he leant against the doorframe of their compartment, a smirk gracing his features. "Sirius Black and James Potter, any particular reason who were spying on us? It's very rude of you."

"We- er…" James stammered as his face turning an even brighter shade of red as she looked at the floor, his feet, out the window past the two girls, anywhere but at them.

"What's your name red?" Sirius asked smoothly, still leant in the doorway and clearly not feeling the need to answer Adalaine, or perhaps he was answering her. His eyes were intently looking at the redhead, whose face turned the same colour of her hair under the intensity of his stare.

"Erm…" She stammered over her words, not unlike James, her face now practically radiating heat as she too looked at her feet rather than meet the intense silver eyes that looked directly at her. She was wringing her hands, clearly not at all comfortable with the way things had gone, though it was clear the boy named Sirius had not yet picked up on those signals. After a moment a taking a deep breath, she seemed to steel herself for her reply. "Erm… Er… I'm Lily… L-Lily Evans…"

"Lily," Sirius repeated, moving to sit beside the redhead. "And your friend?"

"Lainey," The blonde replied instantly, sticking her chin out slightly, a defiant move, she was none too impressed. In fact, she was a little more annoyed then anything, Lily had instantly struck her as the quiet type, easily intimidated by the overbearing new world she had just entered, the last thing she needed was a Black of all people to freak her out. Lainey knew well enough what the Black family were like, a bunch of muggle haters – there was nothing worse than them in the world, as far as Lainey was concerned. Her Nan was an amazing woman; it was unfair what they did to them. "You better not upset her Black, I know what your family is like-"

"That's not fair!" James suddenly protested, the redness in his face fading as he looked between Sirius and Lainey. "He's not like _them_."

"Yeah, little miss judgey," Sirius responded, crossing his arms over his chest in some semblance of a strop.

"Well, this is interesting," Taliah suddenly stated, slipping into the room. She turned to look at the still worried looking Lily, sympathy in her eyes as she did. "Hi Lily, I'm Taliah Lima, I think we'll all be in the same year at Hogwarts. I haven't met anyone else that looks like you before… Are you a muggle born or a half blood?"

With a quick smile at Lainey, Taliah sat beside her; the two girls knew each other from around, like many others Taliah knew of Laineys father, as it was her family owned the publishing house Lima Press that had almost won the bid to release a short career biography of his time as one of the best quidditch captain's the wizarding world had ever seen. They'd been paired together by their parents, while the adults talked business; they'd gotten along well enough then, and remembered each other.

"Muggle born," Lily replied, seemingly stronger than before, her tone slightly more defiant. Her face was still as red as a tomato, but she looked at Taliah directly as she spoke, before looking at Sirius through the corners of her eyes, she crossed over her arms, not unlike him, and leaned back in her seat. Her book lie forgotten beside her now, and it made Lainey smile, or her part Lainey knew she was a Gryffindor, like her family. When she first met Lily she had assumed she'd be a Ravenclaw immediately, with all the book reading, but as she sat there now a defiant look in her eyes, Lainey was not so sure she'd made the right judgement on her. "And you?"

"Pure blood," Sirius replied, suddenly perked up now that Lily was talking to him directly. "I'm going to be the first Black family member in Gryffindor, just you watch me."

"I don't understand… Gryffindor?" Lily asked, there was tentativeness in her voice, but curiosity in her eyes, clearly eager for this new piece of information.

"It's one of the four houses," James opened his mouth and explained, the redness gone from his face now. "Gryffindor is the best, it's for the bravest people, then there's Ravenclaw, everyone in that house is really smart. Hufflepuff is where all the soft people are, like really soft people. And then there's Slytherin-"

"Where all my family are housed. If you're a Gryffindor you don't like Slytherins-"

"Why not?"

"Because," Sirius answered, a dark look shadowing over his young face, had any of them been older and wiser they may have witnessed it with some concern, but at just eleven years old, none of them had any idea what it really could mean. "They're bad people."


	2. Chapter 2

Darkening skies stretched out over head, turning from the light, bright blue to an inky navy, until they were wrapped in darkness beyond the safe confines of train, where wall mounted lights had come to life of their own accord some hours previous. No one else questioned how the old fashioned lamps came into life themselves, but Lily had watched with fascination as the little flame flickered to life with no obvious fuel and begin to glow bright until there was eventually enough light in the compartment. They'd all changed into their school uniforms as well, disappearing in turn into a small toilet not far from their compartment. Lily had felt almost out of place amongst this group that so clearly knew more than she did, they were all so sure of themselves, while uncertainty ate away at her.

The train begun to slow, until eventually it came to a complete stop beside what looked to be a completely normal rural train station, made mostly of golden coloured stone. There were more large lamps flickering the station into light, not unlike the ones that currently shone in the compartments. The ones on the station illuminated the single person who stood on the station platform, only he wasn't like any other person she had ever seen. He was truly massive, the size easily of three men shoulder to shoulder and surely double the height. He was outlined by a halo of fluff, which as he moved she realised was in fact a mass of hair and a large furry coat. He was quite simply the furriest man she had ever laid eyes on.

Suddenly hundreds of students descended from the train, down onto the platform and moved alongside each other, Lily tore herself from the window and followed the people she had shared a compartment with, out into the chill of the early September night.

"Fir'st years!" The huge man bellowed over the heads of the wandering students. "Fir'st years Folla' me!" a trail of small students followed the beast of man with small beady eyes in a different direction to the other students who all seemed to know what they were doing and where they were going. Looking uncertain, Lily looked to Lainey for confirmation of some sort, the blonde girl just grinned at her and tilted her head in the direction the large man led them. They were a short walk along a tree lined path, before pausing at a small wooden dock, a line of boats awaiting them.

"Take yer sea's an' they'll take yer to th' castle" The huge man told them, and somehow, Lily found herself sitting in one of the small boats beside James, opposite Taliah.

In the darkness, the seemingly endless lake was stunning, as the half-moon reflected off each ripple in the water, looking like someone had scattered silvery glitter everywhere. Looking at the deep water at the small boat edge, Lily saw the reflection of her bright red hair beneath her, until it suddenly flicked out, and she realised she was not looking at her flection at all, but a creature down below the surface. Sitting straight up and looking ahead was then how she first saw Hogwarts. There was a moment of gratefulness towards the creature that had scared her into looking ahead of her, because what she saw was awe-inspiring.

Standing above them, was a building unlike any other she had ever seen. It wasn't just any other building, it was a castle, she'd seen pictures of them in fairy-tale books – but this was unlike any of them. They all tell of magical tales, but they were just stories, in that moment seeing the looming castle there was true magic, radiating from every line, every crack, every brick. With windows that flickered golden light, tall towers that seemed to stretch endlessly towards the moon that hovered above it, gracing it with gorgeous silvery light. It was purely magical.

"Are you ok?" James' voice sounded beside her, forcing her to tear her eyes from the majestic castle that stood before them, that they were getting ever closer to. "You look like you might cry… It's not scary… Not really, you don't need to be worried or anything."

"I'm not upset," Lily told him, her voice crackling, she realised for the first time that there were tears in her eyes. "It's beautiful… I don't think I expected this."

"I guess that makes sense, I've always known Hogwarts…" James paused a rummaged through his pockets, producing a clean but scrunched white tissue to the redhead. "My mum… She worries." He said with a slight shrug, explaining away the tissues as Lily wiped at her eyes with it, giving the boy a grateful smile. "You're a muggle, so that don't really explain it all to you, but it won't always be like this."

'Like this', did he mean completely overwhelming? Lily opened her mouth to ask, but the slight jolt of the bolt coming to a stop at the little dock distracted her, and instead she found herself clambering from the boat, aided by James, onto the shoreline. They travelled together as a large group of nervous eleven year olds towards the large castle, led by the giant of a man up a long fight of stone steps, lines by massive iron wrought lamps. And then, they were walking into large stone room, the entrance to the castle.

Bumping into the person before her, as they came to a sudden stop, Lily mumbled her apologies, feeling the heat rise to her cheeks as she did so. It was so easy to become distracted, she very nearly missed the arrival of a single woman, dressed completely in a green tartan, with a large black witch's hat atop her head, and a pair of square glasses on her nose. She could have easily been quite intimidating, if Lily hadn't already met her, over the summer to be told she was in fact a witch. There had been a softness about her when she had explained it all to the confused and yet not entirely surprised Evans Family. Now she was looking slightly more forbidding with pursed lips as green eyes swept over nervous looking faces, though as the two pair of green eyes met, Lily was sure she saw a slight twitch of the woman's lips, upwards in the shadow of a smile.

"I am Professor McGonagall," The woman started. "And I am here to lead you into the sorting ceremony, in which you will be sorted into your house. The house you are sorted into will become your home in your time here at Hogwarts, your fellow housemates, your family." She eyed each individual before her, and Lily knew she was measuring them up, what they were, who they might be… "I will be back in a moment to lead your through."

A moment felt like a lifetime, before the doors before them were thrown open, revealing to the group of students a massive hall, wooden supports held up a ceiling that was hidden behind what appeared to be the nights sky, perhaps the wooden supports held up nothing at all, Lily reasoned to herself as she looked around the room. There were two rows of table either side of them, holding hundreds of students each, the tables were decorated in different colours, silver and green, yellow and black, blue and bronze and finally gold and red. The students as these tables wore colours of the decorations, ties in the coordinating colours.

Before them was a long table with adults sitting along it, they watched with interest as the group of students Lily walked among neared the table, in front of which stood a lone small stool, an old looking hat sat atop it. Professor McGonagall appeared beside the stool, a large piece of rolled up parchment in her hands, she eyed them all once again, assessing them constantly.

"When I call your name, please come forward and take a seat on this stool, I will place the hat on your head and you will be sorted." Lily pondered what Professor McGonagall had just told them, the hat would be placed on their head and they would be sorted. Logically she couldn't think of a single way an old, battered looking hat could in any way have any effect upon what house they were placed in – what other reason would it be a part of a sorting ceremony?

"Aubrey, Giovanna," A girl with a high ballerinas bun made of silky black tresses, stepped forward, and took the first seat on the chair, she was a girl with darkish olive skin and s small stature, but she didn't look nearly as worried as Lily felt in that moment. Instead the redhead watched with amazement as the hat touched the girls head and seemingly came to life. The creases and patches seemed to come into a life of their own, creating features like any other face.

"Ah, Aubrey… Hmmm…" The hat was speaking, with a deep male voice, and Lily was now certain of her own terror. "RAVENCLAW!"

Cheers erupted from the table decorated in blue and bronze as Giovanna hoped from the stool and ran towards it, she seemed delighted by the section, a wide smile on her face as she rushed forward.

However, for Lily the rest of the ceremony passed her by in a blur, it was not until she felt someone poke he in the side that she was ripped from her own traumatising fear, to turned to look at James who was beside her, pointing towards the stool, Lily turned her attention back to that unimposing stool and Professor McGonagall who stood beside it, looking right at her. With no other option, Lily squared her shoulder, held her head high and moved towards the stool, taking a deep breath she sat down upon it and felt the weight of the hat touch down on her head.

"You're scared…" The voice said inside her head, it made her jump slightly, but she steeled herself. "How curious it is how you muggles survive the change." Lily bit her tongue, it wasn't really curious that she 'survived' the change, she'd always known that she was a little bit _different_, that things were always a little _odd_ when she was around. This was really a necessity, not only for her, but for her family. As Professor McGonagall had explained, she needed to be properly trained – true, she was fascinated, but that wasn't all it was. She _had_ to make the change, fearful of revealing anything bizarre about her and her family to the wider public – she wasn't ashamed, her parents had been accepting, her older sister not so much so, but she had to keep them safe, an untrained adult with magic was apparently unheard of, according to McGonagall. "You're a kind and loving young girl, you'd do anything for those that you love… But it's not just a kindness, it's a bravery…. A willingness to make sacrifices, to face your fears…" There was a pause inside her head, she wanted to say something, anything, but words had failed her. "Gryffindor!"

* * *

In truth, there was a little bit of guilt settling in her stomach as she took her seat at the Gryffindor table, so lavishly decorated in gold and red. In her moments of panic, she had completely missed the sorting of her peers, of those that Professor McGonagall had said would become her family. At the table she found Sirius, sat there with the most arrogant smirk across his face that she had ever seen.

"You're a Gryffindor then," Sirius remarked as she took the empty seat beside him. Lily nodded her head, looking towards the sorting ceremony wondering what was yet to come. For a reason she couldn't quite place, it felt somewhat intrusive to her to watch people being sorted, though most of the others in the room had their eyes riveted to the scene. Perhaps it was due to how personal it had felt when the hats voice had sounded in her head and read her like a book, deciding for her where she belonged, based on traits that it could seemingly see in her – ones she was not entirely sure existed in herself.

Instead, Lily turned her face back down her table, realising for the first time that it was not just her and Sirius who had taken a seat at the Gryffindor as a new student. There was a girl, a blonde little girl, well, she was actually quite tall, lanky, with a mass of blonde hair pulled into a ballerina bun atop her head. She had a pixie like face, all pointed features and high cheek bones, this was all finished with the biggest blue eyes Lily had ever seen, they were the colour of the sky on a bright day. For a moment Lily wondered how she hadn't ever seen this girl before, when bright blue orbs met her own emerald eyes.

"Hi!" The girl chirped, a smile spreading across her face as she looked at Lily, clearly she had felt Lily's stare. "I'm Bec – Rebecca, Rebecca Alton!"

"Hello," Lily responded, with much less enthusiasm then shown by the blonde girl. "I'm Lily Evans."

"And I'm Sirius Black," Sirius cut in, clearly displeased at having been left out of this clearly enthralling conversation in the first place, although it hadn't been as if he'd been talking to Bec when Lily had first arrived at the table. "We're just waiting on James now, he's a dead cert to get in Gryffindor – wonder who the rest of them will be."

They didn't have to wait long before their peers around them broke into a loud chorus of cheers as another name was called out as a Gryffindor, relief flooded Lily when she recognised Taliahs exotic features coming to sit opposite her, beside the girl named Bec. Her eyes, which were naturally nearly black in colour they were so dark, suddenly seemed alight as she took her seat, a wide smile across her face as she looked around her.

"Well Black," Taliah commented as she looked towards Sirius. "Looks like you officially made it into Gryffindor – the first Black to do so… How upset will your parents be?"

With a smirk across his face, Sirius lent to his right side, his eyes scanning across the crowd, before he paused, the smirk only growing bigger as he found what he was looking for.

"Looks like good ol' Lucie is already glaring at Cissa… I imagine a letter will be sent home tonight, probably receive a howler first thing tomorrow morning," Sirius replied, seemingly amused by the prospect – though Lily had no idea what a Howler might be, though it sounded far from pleasant, perhaps they sent wolves of some sort to punish people? Though really, she couldn't see the issue with being the first in a family to be in a certain house – they were all here for the same reason.

Only a couple of minutes after Taliah had arrived at their table, another joined them, a young boy, he was pale and small looking, with eyes the colour of amber. He looked at Lily with a small smile, before taking the seat beside her.

"Hello," Lily said to him quietly, the boy looked at her, a small smile of his own and nodded his head at her, recognition of her greeting, though he didn't look overly forthcoming, which Lily understood, she didn't feel very forthcoming herself, but heaving up all the courage she had inside her she managed to try. "I'm Lily, and you are?"

"Remus," The boy responded, timidly raising his eyes to meet Lilys, looking more relaxed as he saw the kindness in her emerald eyes. She smiled at him, nodding, uncertain what more to say as Sirius begun to bicker with Taliah over something, and the ceremony continued.

Truthfully it couldn't have taken very long, but it seemed as if it took forever. Perhaps that was just the nerves that Lily felt as she sat there at the table, wringing her hands under the dark wood and hoping people didn't see her fear. It was all so new, with so many people who seemed to know so much more than she did. It was overwhelming, she struggled against the bubbling urge to clamp her hands over her ears and snap her eyes shut, wishing all the intrusion into her once quiet life away. But she wouldn't of course, she was too stubborn, she had made the decision to come, from a mix of concern, curiosity and excitement. His had been an adventure she couldn't resist, and now, she wouldn't let the assault on her senses force her to turn her back on it, not that she was already this far in.

"Welcome!" The voice that broke her from her own thoughts, was strong and aged at the same time, with the croakiness that her grandfathers held, but a power that made her shiver. It snapped her attention towards the man who stood where the stool had been for the ceremony, and Lily realised to her embarrassment she had missed the rest of it. "I wish to keep you for only a few short moment, to welcome our newest students, please ensure you make them feel welcomes, and alas, I feel I have used my short moment, let the feast commence!"

With those words the table before Lily seemed to suddenly grow, only it hadn't grown, but a number of items had appeared atop it. Items was the wrong word, it was a mass of food, almost anything that the redhead could think of or imagine appeared along the length of the table.

"YEAH!" Sirius whooped, before diving straight into a large platter of meats, Lily watched him for a moment, before laughter bubbled from her lips and she met Taliahs eyes, before grasping her fork in hand and stabbing a large sausage, she placed it on her plate and looked at it, before cutting it open and tentatively taking a small bite – it was simply delicious, like the expensive sausages her mother used to buy for their birthday breakfast back home. "Lily, you've got to be kidding – you can't just eat one sausage!" Sirius grunted out between mouthfuls of something that was now indistinguishable. Lily nodded, spooning onto her plate a large portion of roasted potatoes and gravy and a selection of meats. "This, Lily Evans, is the good life."

* * *

Stomach full to bursting, Lily followed what she had been informed was a prefect through the corridors, the prefect was a tall girl called Bronte with chestnut hair, she spoke with a strong irish accent.

"Make sure you leave good time to get to your classes, the staircases can be temperamental, and the professor won't accept that as an excuse for being late to their lessons," Bronte commented as the group followed her up the large stone staircases. "And they like to change."

Lily wondered what this meant, when she witnessed before her eyes the stone leaving the wall and sliding towards them, Lily hadn't realised the level before her simply dropped off to the floor three levels before, but as she arched her neck to look she realised that she'd have to pay a bit more attention. Feeling slightly uncertain she pushed her foot against the stone, the steps were definitely solid, that much she was certain of. Eventually they paused before a large portrait, inside it was a woman, she was a heavy set woman, wearing elaborate robes, with brown hair pulled into a loose updo and more makeup then Lily had ever seen anyone wear.

"Evening ma'am," Bronte addressed the portrait of the woman, before turning back to the group of first years that Lily stood among. "This is the portrait of the Fat Lady, when you want to get into the common room, tell her the password, which will be supplied to you tomorrow and she will let you enter, but be aware, she'll give you a right telling off if you try and return after hours."

"As so students after hours deserve!" The woman in the portrait stated in a clipped tone. Lily knew better then to jump though, she'd noticed the portraits moving – not as in the whole frame, but the people within them! It was a bizarre thing for her to witness, but everyone else seemed quite at ease with it. Or like her, pretended to be.

"And now, to your rooms," Bronte said, ignoring the portrait and leading the group in a hole that appeared in the wall when the portrait swung open. The room that was revealed to them was simply everything that a living space should be, Lily couldn't help but smile to herself, it was a warm and welcoming room, with small groups of students already sat around, catching up from what must have seemed to them a long summer apart. "The girls' dorm is upstairs to my right, the boys' to the left, Girls I'll take you to your now. Fabian will take the boys to theirs."

* * *

There's always that awkward moment when you first meet someone, but when you're simply shut into a small dorm with five beds in it and told to 'get to know each other'.

She was relieved to recognise Lainey, Taliah and Bec, but there was also another girl. She was small and waif like, with long dark hair and small, pointed unimposing features, she had skin the colour of russet with golden tones.

"Hey you're Shacklebolt, aren't you?" Lainey asked the girl as they each stood before their own beds.

"Yeah, Cam Shacklebolt," The girl replied, a clear London accent in her voice. "And you'd be Ada-"

"Lainey, everyone calls me Lainey."

"-Lainey O'Hare, you're the quidditch players daughter, aren't you?" Cam asked, eyeing Lainey curiously.

"The one and only!" Lainey replied brightly. "And you're now stuck with me for at least the next seven years."


	3. Chapter 3

Everything was a bit of a blur, if she were honest. Lily was sat in a large classroom, full of around twenty students, all looking equally nervous.

"Please open your textbooks to the first page," A stern voice sounded from the back of the classroom, Lily turned to see Professor McGonagall walking down the middle aisle towards the front of the classroom, wearing today a red tartan. She tap her wand against the blackboard that stood beside the teacher's desk at the front of the classroom, and as if of its own accord the blackboard spun until they were face with the right side with white chalk writing across it. _'Transfiguration'_ was written across the top in neat cursive handwriting. "Can anyone in this classroom tell me what transfiguration is?"

Peering around the classroom, then toward her neighbour with whom she was sharing a desk, Taliah, Lily tentatively raised her hand in the air.

"Lily Evans," Professor McGonagall looked towards the redhead with a piercing stare, though it was not stern, more curious. "Please, go ahead."

"Transfiguration is the art of changing an item- I mean, changing its form and it's looks, so that it essentially becomes a new object." Lily answered, her cheeks reddening as she felt the eyes of the entire class on her as she supplied the answer, she wanted to shrink down, not sure she wanted to be the centre of attention – ever.

"Well done Miss Evans," Professor McGonagall said, inclining her head towards Lily slightly, a small shadow of a smile across her lips. "Ten points to Gryffindor. Now anything else?"

Once again, Lily looked around the room, but no one appeared forthcoming, after another few moments hesitation, Lily tentatively raised her hand once more.

"It's not limitless… It's guided by, erm, I think it was Gumps Law of Elemental Transfiguration?"

"Gamps, Miss Evans, but it is quite clear you've done your reading, another ten points to Gryffindor." There was a softness in the professor's voice as she corrected Lily, letting her know it was not a mistake that would be held against her. "Would it be too farfetched of me to hope that someone other than Miss Evans has done any reading at all?" With a scan over the heads of the students who all stared at her blinkingly, the professor knew her answer. Heaving something of an irritated sigh, she lifted her wand once more and tapped it against the blackboard, causing a paragraph of text to appear under the word '_transfiguration_'. "I would like you all to take a copy of these notes in todays session, then as homework I want you to _learn_ it. Next lesson I will be asking you to answer questions on it, so please ensure you do make some concentrated effort to study."

* * *

"Do you think we'll always have lessons the first day?" Lainey whined as she threw herself down onto the sofa in the common room, it was already growing dark outside the window, as the early evening bore down upon them. Their day had been fast paced, and nothing like Lily had quite expected.

After their hour long Transfiguration lesson they had trudge across the castle to get to their charms lesson. Charms had easily been Lily's favourite class, it was taught by a little man, with a mass of brown hair that was steadily greying, he'd introduced himself as Professor Flitwick and Lily had liked him instantly, he like Professor McGonagall had been impressed with her knowledge, though Lily was sure she'd develop something of a reputation for being bookish by the end of that lesson. Lunch had proved another feast, during which Lily had penned a letter to her mother telling her what school was like, before they had another lesson, this was double History of Magic, which Lily had been interested in, before the class had begun. The Professor was quite oddly a ghost, which there were many of within Hogwarts, but none of the others taught a subject; what she had realised quickly about history of magic was that it wasn't going to be nearly as exciting as she had first thought, in fact, most the class had fallen asleep by fifteen minutes in.

"We'll have lessons the first day every time it's a school day the first day," Camilla replied as she sat atop the table before the sofa Lainey was thrown across, she crossed her legs atop the wooden top and looked at her friends through dark eyes. "History of magic was _awful_, I wonder how long we have to take it for?"

"Until we've completed our O.W.L in it," Taliah groaned as she sat at the end of the sofa, right on top of Laineys feet. "That's years away… At least we'll get a good amount of naps in across the school year?"

"My mum says beauty rest is one of the most important things…" Bec stated, before pausing. "But then, she also believes beauty is more important than working… Maybe we shouldn't take her advice too seriously."

Laughing, Taliah nudged her friend with her shoulder.

"Probably not," Taliah giggled, though stopped suddenly as Sirius strode up to them, looking as confident as possible. "Yes, Black?"

"Don't worry Tallie," Sirius said smoothly, his eyes fixated on Lily who was curled up on the corner of the sofa, her face quickly turning the same colour as her hair. "I'm here for red."

"You're embarrassing her more likely," Cam drawled from beside Lily, turning her nose up slightly at the arrogant boy. Though he was clearly unbothered by th slight as he continued to grin at the redhead who refused to remove her eyes from the book in her hands. "And you brought your friends I see."

Behind him, Cam had noted, were a group of boys, Lily peered at them for a second, recognising Remus and James instantly, there were two other boys too, one was short with darkish blonde hair that stuck limply to his head, he was ruddy looking, refusing to look any of them in the eye. The other was taller than the others, he had blonde hair and quite a square face.

"I can't get them to stop following me!" Sirius sighed dramatically, grinning as James nudged him with his shoulder, laughing at his friends arrogance. "So Red, you're quite smart then? Have you read every book on the list?"

"Erm," Lily felt the heat rising to her cheeks as she looked from Sirius, down to the book in her hand – she had, her excitement overwhelming her to know more, so she'd read every book on the list, as well as a few others that had picked at her interest. "I've read a few…"

"You have!" Sirius exclaimed, his face alight with amusement as he did, a wide grin across his face. He was clearly not taken in with her little white lie. "You've read them all!"

"Hey Black, you winding up the girls? Leave them alone, yeah?" A tall boy commented, he was easily one of the seventh years, with dark hair, a strong jaw and slightly pointed chin. "James, me, Will and Kate are going to go and floo mum, y'know what she's like on our birthdays. You coming?"

"Yeah sure, just let me grab your birthday present from upstairs!" James called eagerly, already rushing towards the stairs that would lead him up to the boys' dormitories.

"Happy birthday!" Lily suddenly blurted out towards the boy who watched James run up the stairs with amusement written across his face. The boy turned his face back towards the young redhead, smiling a small kind smile, causing heat to rise to her face once more, he was really pretty.

"Thanks, Lily Evans, right?" The boy asked, Lily nodded, he grinned at her. "And if Black-" He put his hand on top of Sirius' head, ruffling his ebony curls, much to Sirius' dismay. –"keeps winding you up, let me know, I'll quickly sort this trouble maker out." Looking as if he was about to protest, Sirius opened his mouth, however his retort was cut off by James' return, present in hand. He thrust the blue package towards his brother, the word "TOM" Scrawled across it in messy handwriting. "C'mon James, Kate and Will are waiting for us."

James waved to the group, before departing the common room, trailing behind his older brother.

"So that's the famous Tom Potter…" Cam muttered, looking wistfully at the back of the portrait entrance, the two potters had just left through. "He's meant to be an amazing quidditch player… My brothers say he's the best that Gryffindor have had in forever…"

"Quidditch?" Lily asked, something she regretted as all eyes turned to her.

"Quidditch?" Sirius croaked out, repeating her question with a horrified expression on his face.

"You don't know what quidditch is yet?" The new boy with blonde hair asked, looking dumbfounded by the mere idea. Lily got the idea, clearly quidditch was something all these magical kids got – but she'd never heard of it before, Cam had said an amazing quidditch player, maybe it was a game of some sort, like chess. Though how good at a game like that someone could be, she did not know. And Tom hadn't struck her as a chess player… Maybe it was a sport, like football or cricket. Not that she knew much about them either, other than her father went away to watch matches regularly. She recalled briefly that Laineys dad played quidditch too, it had to be a sport, she'd just never thought to ask. "Quidditch is the best sport ever!" The boy exclaimed excitedly. "It's like basketball but on brooms, flying. My dad's a muggle, he didn't get it at first either."

"Flying? On brooms?" Lily asked, suddenly sounding quite excited as she looked at the boy that had explained quidditch to her, really she wasn't much into sports… Flying however…

"Yeah, we should all see the first match together, when the season starts!" the boy replied, sounding just as excited, Lily nodded, sports was not her thing, but this she had to see, she wanted to try. She'd be able to fly, that would be amazing.

"We'll have flying lessons at some point this week," Taliah told Lily, a smile spreading across her face as the redhead clearly became enthused over the prospect. "We can't play quidditch in our first year, but we could in our second, if we made the team… second years never do, but we could practice."

"That sounds amazing!" Lily sighed wistfully, her book sat half-forgotten in her hands as she stared off to the distance past her friends… Flying, would be something else…

* * *

"Happy birthday Tom!" The man grinned as his siblings sat around him, their parents had just disappeared from the fireplace where there heads had been, talking to them, wishing Tom a happy birthday.

"Eighteen years old, aren't you, like, officially old now?" Kate laughed, grinning at her brother as they sat around the last of the cake that had appeared in the room when they had arrived here.

"Yeah, alright Kate," Tom ground, throwing a small piece of cake at her, which she screeched at, ducking to avoid it hitting her face, it landed in her dark hair instead. "You sound like mum, it'll be you next whose going on about marrying us all off."

"Oh come on, you've been seeing that Grace Bones forever!" Kate retorted as James looked towards his other brother, Will, awkwardly. James didn't get it, Kate had gone on and on all summer about her new boyfriend, a friend of Toms called Fabian. He was always over and with her, he even refused a game of quidditch to go to the park with Kate instead. Tom had called him whipped – which didn't sound entirely pleasant to James.

"Yeah, but Grace isn't the girlfriend type," Tom replied with a shrug. "Why you picking on me it's my birthday, pick on Will or James."

"James, you're new, there's a lot of pretty girls in your year-"

"But they're girls!" James groaned, sticking his tongue out. "I don't want a girlfriend! I want to play quidditch!"

His three older siblings laughed, which riled him slightly.

"Oh to be young!" Kate laughed, wrapping an arm around James shoulder, before looking to Tom once more. "Unlike you, oldie."


	4. Chapter 4

The day had finally come, the day which Lily had been thinking about endlessly as she meandered through corridors, sat at the table in the great hall, lay in bed at night. True, she'd only found put about quidditch on Wednesday and it was not only the Friday, but the time span between had seemed to take an eternity to the excited eleven year old. To make matters worse she'd had to endure a two hour history of magic lesson, then lunch before finally she rushed towards the area of the castle where the flying lessons were going to take part.

Out on the grass her eyes quickly fell to the teacher standing there, a wall, willowy looking woman with short spiky grey hair, looking directly at her, the woman stood beside a row of broomsticks, in front of those was another.

"Well, don't just stand there!" The woman called, sounding impatient. "Come, pick a broom, not that there's much difference in any of them."

Doing as she was instructed, Lily move swiftly to the first broom in the rows, followed quickly by Cam, Taliah, Lainey and Bec. The boys were there as well, James sand Sirius were nudging each other, snickering and looking at the brooms with thinly veiled excitement. Remus didn't look nearly as certain, however, Dale, the tall blonde boy was grinning as he stared down at the broom at his feet, while Peters watery blue eyes took in the sight of the broom with apparent scepticism. Looking across to her friends, the girls all seemed quite happy, Cam and Taliah looked at the brooms with eagerness while Bec appeared slightly uncertain, Lainey for her part looked bored – she'd moaned endlessly that she was able to ride a broom – her father was a professional quidditch player.

"Alright!" The professor barked. "I'm Madame Hooch, your flying instructor, I also act as referee in quidditch matches. I know all there is to know about flying, so listen closely, I don't want to be having to deal with any broken bones this year."

"First things first, step to the left of your broom, until it is at your right hand side – I said right hand side Jones!" She sighed exasperatedly, as a blonde girl in Hufflepuff colours turned red, correcting her position. "Now remember, you need to take control of the room, you are in charge, not the other way around. It can sense your fear."

"With your right hand over the room – not yet Potter! I want you to firmly say the word 'up' – I said not yet Potter!" Lily's eyes flickered to where James stood, grinning sheepishly as he lowered his hand. "I want you to grasp the broom tightly in your right hand when it rises, nothing else, just grasp it firmly. Alright, give it a go!"

Looking down at her broom, Lily grinned once more, before pulling back her shoulders, feigning confidence.

"Up!" Her broom twitched, even hopped off the ground a bit before falling back into place and remaining there, looking up and around to see how everyone else was doing, she quickly spotted that James, Sirius and Lainey already had brooms in hand, the other however were mostly getting the same reaction as she was. She frowned, before parting her feet until they were shoulder width apart, pulled back her shoulders. "UP!"

The broom flew into her hand, she even squeaked as the smooth wood hit her plan, a wide smile spreading across her face as she felt it there, floating in her air with her small hand wrapped around it. Looking around, Cam also hand her broom in hand, quickly followed by Dale and Taliah; Remus, Bec and Peter weren't having as much luck.

"You must say it like you _mean_ it." Lily looked to Bec who was frowning at her broom that lay still at her feet, Madame Hooch could say 'say it like you mean it' all she wanted, but it might not _mean_ something to Bec, who just looked confused.

"Like you want it… Like you need it in your hand… You control the broom," Lily told Bec quietly.

"That's it Miss Evans, exactly!" Madame Hooch exclaimed, grinning at Lily, who visibly reddened at the compliment she was being given. A smile spread across her face, despite herself, she could do this, she could be a witch, she could fly. More than that, she could help others do it too. It was a very nice thought indeed. She watched as Bec, with renewed concentration, called the word 'up', she was quickly rewarded with the broom lifting into the air, into her hand, until she clasped her fingers around it.

"I did it!" Bec squeaked, hopping from foot to foot excitedly. She turned to Lily, a smile spread across her face.

Smiling to herself, Lily looked to her own broom, feeling it in her hand as she flexed her fingers around it. This is what she needed to do, she needed to learn to fly, she was made to do so.

"OK, when I say so, you are to step one leg over the broom, grip the top of the handle firmly with both hands, and push off the ground," Madame Hooch told them, her golden eyes looking at them each in turn, as if trying to properly hammer the message into their brains. "Once you have done this, hover for a minute before pushing the handle towards the ground, this will direct the broom into lowing you back into the ground. Anyone that does not follow those exact instructions will find themselves in detention for a month!" Her eyes flickered towards were James and Sirius were snickering together, apparently their reputations were spreading amongst the professors. "Now, off you go, hover!"

Taking a deep breath, Lily pulled over leg over the broom and settled herself down on it, surprised by the fact it was more comfortable then she had thought it would be, almost as if it had an invisible seat. She settled her small frame down on it, wriggling slightly until she felt completely settled, grinning to herself as she could feel the broom vibrate slightly, as if it felt the same eager anticipation she did. With her hands tightly gripped to the broom, she kicked off from the floor, shooting five foot into the air.

Looking at the ground she could see her shadow below her, then she looked up and around her, the only others in the air were James, Sirius, Dale, a Hufflepuff boy and a girl. Catching James' eye, Lily grinned, which was returned he nodded his head towards her, it was a sign of approval. Quickly Cam joined them in the air, then Lainey and Taliah, Remus, Bec and Peter.

It felt like no time before the professor was instructing them to lower their brooms to the ground, which Lily did almost reluctantly, until she felt the soft ground beneath her shoes. A shriek forced her to look up, to see Jones, the Hufflepuff girl, go shooting forward, knocking directly into Remus, sending him flying back a good few feet as she continued forward, screaming.

"Every year!" Madame Hooch sighed, before running off after the screaming girl, looking over her shoulder. "Please someone make sure Lupin isn't dead!"

* * *

Remus had quite fortunately survived the incident with nothing more than a few bruises, which he was very unconcerned with. James and Sirius had with the help of Dale dragged him to the hospital wing, despite Remus' protests, while the girls watched as Madame Hooch retrieved the clearly terrified Jones from her runaway broom.

"Well, some of us clearly should try out for the quidditch team next year," Bec commented as the girl gathered their belongings and begun to trudge back towards the castle and the common room, more than ready for the weekend which begun now. "Well, not me, I didn't like that too much at all… But Lily, Cam, Lainey, Taliah, you guys were all really good at it…"

"No thank you." Lainey responded quickly, shaking her head as she did. "I've grown up with quidditch my entire life, I've had enough to last me forever."

"I'm not much into sports," Lily added, she liked the flying thing, but she'd never really been one for teams sports, up until coming to Hogwarts she'd gone to dance classes and gymnastics lessons, but team sports had never really appealed to her before. "Well, teams sports."

"You should give it a go Lily, you never know," Cam told her with a serious look on her face. "Quidditch is amazing, I am definitely trying out for the team."

"Ahhh, so the first flying lesson has only just finished, and already there's talk of who will be on the Gryffindor team," A female voice laughed as the girls entered the Gryffindor Common room, Lily looked to see a familiar face stood there, smiling at them. It was Bronte, the girl who had shown them the way to the common room their first evening here, she was stood beside another girl, she had dark black hair and a pretty face with familiar hazel eyes.

"Kate, do you remember when we had our first lessons, oh so eagerly discussing quidditch after?" Bronte laughed as the girls paused beside them, Lily remembering Kate as being one of James' siblings, she was really pretty, with a kind look on her face. "And then, boys happened and suddenly sports wasn't nearly as interesting."

"Boy happened!" A tall, well-muscled seventh year called across the room, he had a shock of carrot coloured hair atop his head, as he eyed Kate closely, Lily recognised him as Fabian, the seventh year prefect.

"Boy happened," Kate agreed, her cheeks reddening slightly, before turning back to the girls. "So which of you is hoping for a spot on the team?"

"Me," Cam answered instantly, her whole face brightening as she did. "I want to be chaser… or maybe seeker."

"I could see you as a chaser, has your brother Kingsley been teaching you anything? He's quite the player, I know he taught Darwin who is looking to join the team?" Kate asked Cam, who shrugged slightly. "Let me guess, your brothers don't let you play?" This time Cam nodded her head, and Kate laughed slightly. "Brothers, mine used to do the same to me."

"Do none of you want to try out for the team?" Bronte asked the rest of the girl, but none of them seemingly did.

"Maybe," Taliah answered finally, though she did not sound entirely sure. "I dunno… Maybe… It would be kinda cool."

"Being on the team is cool," The carrot coloured hair lad piped up again, jumping up from his position and sauntering towards Kate, wrapping an arm around her waist as he spoke to the girl. "Fabian Prewett, Gryffindor Beater and second in command… Between me and Tom, we're running one of the best teams Hogwarts have ever seen." A look of awe come over Cams face as she looked at him, even to the point her mouth fell open slightly as she stared at the boy before her. He seemed to notice, giving her a quick wink that Lily was sure was gonna cause her friend to fall unconscious. "You should pop to our quidditch practice sometime, you can't play little Gryffie, but you'll pick up some stuff."

Nodding her head furiously, her wide, dark eyes, still intently trained on the boy, Cam was clearly lost to all around her. The three older Gryffindors wandered off together, Cams eyes following the boy still.

"I think I love him."

"Camilla Shacklebolt, he's a seventh year!" Taliah laughed as the three girls begun moving towards the staircase that would bring them to their dorm room. "He's OLD! And did I mention, he's a seventh year!"


	5. Chapter 5

Grinning widely, Lily was amazed as she sat down in the stands the surrounded the large oval pitch. In many ways it wasn't that different to a football pitch, it was grass covered, with white lines drawn out across the grass. However, instead of the rectangular nets that could be found at each end of a football pitch, for quidditch there were three tall hoops, not quite like basketball – these ones stood tall and erect, whereas basketball hoops lay down slightly for throwing. This game wasn't about throwing up and shooting into a hoop though… this was about flying.

Barely able to contain her excitement this morning, Lily had rushed about getting ready, down in the common room, a few of the older girls were painting people's faces, or transferring images from a stock pile onto their face, like the Gryffindor house emblem. Eagerly Lily awaited her turn, requesting the Gryffindor house emblem on one cheek and the colours stripped on the other as many other Gryffindors had done.

"Evans," One of the girls said with a grin as she watched a blonde girl carefully stamp the emblem onto the redheads cheek, Lily looked to her through the corner of her eye. She was a student only a few years older than Lily, with waves of just below shoulder length brown hair, a round face and pointed nose. "You've got proper red Gryffindor hair, I was wondering if you wouldn't mind letting me play with it a little bit, and put some god ribbons through it?"

"Ooooh," The blonde doing Lily's face commented. "That would look so pretty, you'd basically be the Gryffindor mascot, you should let Marlene do it!" With an eager nod, Lily let the brown haired girl called Marlene being to play with her hair, until it was all pulled into a French plait that was pulled around her hairline as if it were a crown, with golden ribbon pulled through it several times, a twist of red and gold. "Don't you look like the perfect little Gryffindor!"

Smiling brightly, Lily thanked the two girls, before dashing back up to her dorm, where her friends were still getting ready. For her part, Lily was already dressed, wearing a pair of jeans with her bright red Gryffindor jumper and gold and red stripped scarf pulled over her shoulders.

"I like your hair," Bec commented, pausing to inspect the intricate updo that Marlene had done to Lily's hair. "Who did it? Do you think they could do something with mine?"

"It was Marlene, come with me, we'll ask," Lily replied excitedly, far too drawn up with the potential of today, of watching her first quidditch match, to quell her eagerness. She practically dragged Bec down the stairs towards Marlene, who grinned at her, agreeing as Lily fervently requested she do something with Becs hair. "It was just really pretty, and we'd be really grateful!"

"It's fine," Marlene laughed as she sat Bec down on the nearest seat and begun to intricately twist Becs blonde locks. "So Lily's really excited for the first quidditch match of the year, what about you?"

"I like sports, my dad plays some muggle sports - football professionally," Bec responded, though it was evident in her tone that that jump about excitement Lily felt was not quite as felt by her friend. "I mean, it's great and all… but my mum always takes me to international games to meet the players… I think she's trying to marry me off…"

There was a bemused look on Marlene's face, as she looked up and caught the eye of the blonde haired girl who had painted Lily's face. Truth was, even Lily thought that was a slightly odd comment that caught her off guard. Marry? They were eleven years old!

"Erm, you're only eleven right?" Marlene asked Bec, bemusement still evident on her face.

"Yep," Bec answered, with a nod of her head. "Only just, my birthday is August thirtieth."

With a look at the blonde girl once again, Marlene shrugged one shoulder slightly.

"Well, I wouldn't worry about it, here, quidditch is just quidditch, and boys can be worried about later, like, when you're much older, marriage even later." Marlene told Bec, her hand on her shoulder giving it what seemed like a reassuring squeeze, Bec smiled and nodded, though for the first time since Lily had met her, Bec looked… Lily couldn't quite figure it out what she looked like, it was as if she had almost gotten smaller. "Your hair is done, why don't you run and grab lunch with Lily before the game."

Now sat between Camilla and Bec, Lily eagerly awaited the moment it would all begin. The boys had joined them in the Great Hall for lunch, Dale had explained the more intricate rules to her, the different positons and how to score points.

"It's about to start!" Cam squealed excitedly, clapping her hands together and leaning forward in the stands, Lily mirrored her actions, the two of them desperately eager to experience this – their first Hogwarts Quidditch Game. "ARGH! Look Lily!"

Following to the point that Cam held her finger towards, Lily saw the Gryffindor team, they were too far away to make out their exact features, but she could see them, dressed in a mainly red uniform with golden accents, they stood tall and proud, before mounting their brooms and shooting out into the air before them, their gracefulness was a thing of beauty. They manoeuvred together around the pitch, before flying low over the stands, so low that Lily were sure if she put her hand into the air she could touch their shoes, so low that she could feel the rush of air dancing around her as they passed. The team flew towards the centre of the pitch, forming a semi-circle, opposite the other team, dressed in clue, the Ravenclaw team that Gryffindor were playing against. Madam Hooch approached the two teams, paused for a moment, before throwing a ball into the air - the quaffle, and starting the game.

* * *

"That was amazing!" Lily yelled as the whole of the Gryffindor house descended on the common room, cheering loudly, as members of the Gryffindor quidditch team were lifted into the air by their housemate – celebrating their victory on the field. Gryffindor had worn three-hundred-and-twenty-points to two-hundred-and-fifty-points, it had been a close game with Ravenclaw getting the upper hand until the small, blonde Gryffindor Seeker, a girl named Tessa, had caught the golden snitch. "We won! We WON!"

Grabbing Taliahs hands, Lily danced around in circles, endlessly excited by the turn of events took – before as much as she wanted her team to win, she was just thrilled to watch her first match, now she wasn't sure that anything compared to seeing them win. A pair of hands on her shoulders made her pause, she turned to see one of the older boys, a fourth year with dark hair and pale skin, he was grinning kindly down at her, she recognised him briefly.

"Woah, you enjoyed the game then?" The boy asked laughingly, as Lily enthusiastically nodded her head. He laughed in a friendly manner before his eyes turned to the large group of them, the first years having all gathered together. "James, did you enjoy the match?"

"It was AWESOME! I knew we would win though Will, did you see Tom?" James told him excitedly.

"Yeah, do you want to come congratulate him?" Will asked, grinning still, before turning towards where the team stood cheering, without a seconds pause, James followed him closely.

"I should go congratulate Darwin and Kingsley!" Camilla said suddenly, watching James near the team. "Darwin will be well happy, it's only his first game and we won."

For the first time, Lily thought about her siblings, so many of her friends had family here with them, someone to share Hogwarts with. While she had her friends, her older sister had not made it to Hogwarts, but her brother they would not know for sure for a years yet. Maybe she would have a sibling to share with this in a few years.

* * *

"Did you see how he led that team?" A man asked proudly, expecting no answer as he walked out into the living room from a fireplace that stood in a large living room. Flicking a wand that was held in his hand towards a light fitting on the ceiling, the lights came to life illuminating him and the woman who stood just before the fireplace. "It's hard to believe what a man he's become, really. Where are they days he used to hang off my leg and be me to take him out on my broom?" There was a warmth in his voice as he spoke, pride shining in his brown eyes. "They've all grown up so much."

"He takes after his father," The woman told him, a smile playing on her lips. "He's eighteen years old, when and how did that happen?"

"Well, it happened not very long ago, and if I have to explain to you how we came to have a son, or three and a beautiful daughter, I'd be very concerned Cora," The man told her with a suggestive smirk across his face, he sauntered towards the woman, who laughed lightly at his teasing, and wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her close. "Of course I could show you once more."

"That won't be necessary," Cora replied as she felt him nuzzle into her neck, placing soft kisses there, she heard him make a 'pfft' noise of indignation at her response to his wooing attempts. She laughed again. "Harry Potter, dear husband of mine, I can assure I really don't need you to show me how we came to have any of our children."

"Woman!" Harry growled, pulling back from his wife, and looking into her bright blue eyes. "I am trying to seduce you, would you please let me?"

Laughing heartedly Cora placed her hands on either side of her husband's handsome face and kissed him softly on the lips. She pulled back and searching his face, her sons took after him so much, strong square jaw, golden skin, straight nose. He was ridiculously handsome, and he was hers.

"Harry, my darling, it's not your seduction techniques," Cora laughed, kissing him softly again. "It's the lesson you're trying to teach me." She watched for his reaction, but mostly her husband looked confused. "You've already shown me how we came by four beautiful children, and now, I've been very much shown once again."

"Cora…" Harry murmured, stepping back from his wife, only to take all in with his eyes, they travelled up and down her body, before pausing on her stomach. She had put on a couple of pounds recently, nothing much, he had noticed, but they lived stressful lives in a stressful time, and no matter what she was and always would be the most beautiful woman to him. "Are you telling me…"

"That I'm pregnant, yes."


	6. Chapter 6

"So that's the little mudblood he's been following around like a little lost puppy?" A voice drawled, barely containing the disdain that tainted his tone. The young woman he spoke to, a willowy blonde, flickered her eyes towards the redhead her partner was watching.

"Apparently so, first year Gryffindor named Lily Evans," The young woman responded, sounding slightly disinterested. "Quite a smart little thing, a few of the Ravenclaws have ruffled feathers over her being a Gryffindor not a Ravenclaw, claims it shows a flaw in the housing system." She eyed over the little redhead, once more, watching as she sat at the Gryffindor table, chatting to her friends. "A pretty little thing though."

"She's a mudblood, and we both know your aunt has been growing in fury ever since she heard-"

"She heard from you, Lucius," The girl replied, quirking an eyebrow up as she did. "So you would know."

"Ah, anything to keep my future wife's family happy." Lucius drawled in response, pushing aside the young woman's white blonde hair and placing his hand on her back of her neck.

"Nothing is written in stone Lucius," The woman replied, shrugging away from his touch, pushing herself away from the table and getting to her feet. "Which is why you are feeding them the information they want, to try and secure yourself my hand."

"No, Narcissa," Lucius hissed, his hand snapping out and locking around her wrist in a hold so tight it was sure to leave bruises, he pulled her hand to his lips and placed a soft kiss on it, if only for show for their closest neighbours. "Remember, you belong to me. You will be mine in all ways."

* * *

"It's Halloween next week, I can't wait to spend my first Halloween at Hogwarts!" Lainey informed Lily excitedly as they ate lunch, having just finished another two hour history of magic lesson. "I mean, think about it, Halloween at Hogwarts, we have ghosts and the forbidden forest… I mean think about it! It'll be awesome!"

"She's right, we should do something!" Sirius suddenly enthused. "Maybe we should go explore the forbidden forest!"

"Yeah!" James agreed completely, turning to look at Remus for his agreement.

"I don't know…" Remus said timidly, looking down at his plate. "I mean, I think I'm going to go see my mum then."

"I know you're mum isn't very well, but don't you think you could put it off a little bit?" James asked him, sounding a bit disappointed by Remus' inability to go explore the forbidden forest with them. "I know you're mum is ill, but… You won't always be at Hogwarts to do this kinda stuff."

"James!" Lily snapped at him, angered by his insensitivity. "His mum is ill, I'm sure Remus does want to do stuff with you, though I don't know why when you're like that! But his mum is ill, how would you feel if you're mum was ill?"

"Lily, don't worry," Remus told her quietly, though he gave her a small smile as he spoke, James for his part had the decency to look slightly ashamed of himself. "I'll see what I can do, but I really should spend some time with my mum. We'll see."

Still slightly irked by James' attitude, Lily looked down at her half eaten plate of sandwiches. She'd be beside herself if it were her mum who was ill, especially being so far away from her – true they got to go home at Christmas, but it was nothing like it was when Lily was living with her parents. The idea of boarding school had been much more appealing than the reality in some ways, she missed her family, even her sister. What if something happened to them while she was away? True, they wrote to her once a week, as she did them, using the owl post, but the lack of physical nearness was beginning to ware on her, and perhaps make her more sensitive to issues regarding family.

"Lily," Remus' voice said softly, so soft that she nearly missed it, and it certainly didn't garner the attention of their friends, not as Remus sat just across from her. "Are you alright?"

"I'm ok…" She answered instantly, but there was a look of Remus' face that told her he did not believe her. "I just miss my family."

"Don't worry Lily, you're not the only one," Remus told her with a kind smile, which Lily returned. "And you've got us."

* * *

"Lily, my dear, would you please hold on one second?" The professors voice called as class ended and the first years begun to scurry about to get back to their common rooms, it was a Friday and the weekend held so much potential with no classes to fill their time. Lily looked towards her professor, a large man with ruddy cheeks and an obvious fondness for her given her natural abilities in Potions – she didn't know why, maybe it was because she grew up baking – but she was good at it, really good at it.

Standing beside the professor's desk Lily noticed another boy, a Slytherin, he was small and pale, with a large hooked nose and curtains of the darkest black hair she had ever seen, but he didn't look very clean, his hair was greasy looking. She smiled at him, but he only looked down at his tatty black shoes.

"Lily, my dear Lily, as it has become very apparent you have magnificent skills in potions, I was wondering if you could de me the grandest of favours and pair up with Mr Snape here?" The professor requested of her, Lily looked at the boy through the corner of her eye, nodding slightly.

"Of course, but why? Is there something he's struggling with?" Lily asked confused, she'd never really paid much attention to the others in the class – too fascinated with her own work, but she hadn't particularly noticed this boy struggling, she usually helped those that were.

"No!" The boy snapped, causing Lily to jump slightly, she looked at with reddened cheeks, feeling embarrassed.

"Oh, sorry, I'm sure you're really very-"

"Oh, Lily, my dear, do not worry, Mr Snape is a little insulted at my suggestion he work with you for the very same reason – he thought it was a slight on his abilities." The professor explained, smiling kindly at Lily. "No, the actual truth is, you are my best students in this class, and even now it is quite clear you both have a wonderful ability with potions, so you are becoming a little bit of an experiment."

"An experiment?" Lily repeated.

"Ah yes, I am curious as to how your amazing minds together, would work." The professor admitted, there was a gleam in his eyes that suggested it was more than just a little experiment. "What do you both say? It might mean a few extra study sessions together of course, but I'd very much like to see how you worked together, and what findings you come to together, who knows what such brilliants minds could come up with together, especially if we start work early?"

"Erm, of course Professor Slughorn," Lily answered, though she was not certain about this. She did not know much of the Slytherin boy, except that he was in a few of her classes, James and Sirius did not like him very much, and he was really quite smart. "When would you like us to start?"

"We'll talk after our next class, thank you very much Lily, I told you Severus she would agree!"

Lily looked to the boy, whose face had turned the colour of her hair, before looking back at her feet, deciding not to say anything further. Instead she smiled at him once, which he acknowledge with a curt nod of his head, before she turned on the heel of her foot, and left the classroom – still feeling decidedly uncertain about this little experiment Professor Slughorn was attempting on the two of them.

* * *

Quite unusually the common room was near empty, which was even move strange given as it was that time after lecture but before dinner would be served – it was usually now that everyone would mill about in the common room, chatting to their friends, before leaving to ascend up to the great hall. The only people in the common room at that moment were a tall slim young man Severus knew as Lucius Malfoy, beside him were a few of his normal lackeys.

"Severus, it is Severus isn't it? The son of Eileen Prince?" Severus paused and looked towards Lucius, they'd never spoken before, and all Severus knew about him was that he came from an extremely powerful and wealthy family, as his mother had once. "We've decided to overlook your muggle father, a blight on the Prince family name, and we want you to hang out with us, occasionally." If it was meant to make Severus believe they wanted to be friends, it had failed. There was very little that was friendly in Lucius' tone, it was authoritative. "Stop that Severus, we can practically see the cogs turning in your head, you have to learn to stop letting people in your head, you might have some valuable information in there."

"What do you mean?" Severus asked finally, not certain he really knew where this was going. He was a measly first year, he knew his position was not a high one, that a friendship with Lucius Malfoy would only be because it benefitted him in some way.

"Relax, Severus, we'll let you know as and when."

* * *

"You and Snape are the smartest in the class," Taliah agreed after Lily had explained to them what Professor Slughorn had asked of her. "I mean, it would be you two."

"Yeah, but he's creepy!" Lainey whined as she sat on Lily's bed, looking at the redhead. "Have you seen him!"

"Lainey, that's not very nice," Lily chided, but she could also see what her friend meant, Severus was a little intense, and she'd only met him briefly. "He can't really be that bad."

"Lily, he's a Slytherin," Camilla replied, sounding decidedly deadpan. "Of course he can be that bad."


	7. Chapter 7

"So, he wants us to try making this one first?" Lily asked as she sat down beside the Slytherin boy, her finger pointing to the specific potion on the first page of the potions book Slughorn had provided them with. "The cure for boils. But we've already looked at that? I really don't know why he wants us to do this." Lily stated as she went about, collecting the items they would need to create the potion. "Has he said anything else to you Severus, he is your head of house?"

"No." Severus replied shortly, taking the items Lily handed him without looking at her for a second.

"Well, that was not really helpful of him," Lily sighed, feeling frustrated, not only had she had minimal input from her otherwise lovely professor, but she was now working with someone who had made it quite clear that he was not exactly thrilled to be working with her. It was all made just that more frustrating by the fact it was a Sunday and Halloween, and this was not how she had really wanted to spend her first Halloween at Hogwarts. "Let's just try it, and we'll see what we find."

They were coming to the second part of the potion, having spent the first part in silence when Severus finally spoke up.

"Try slicing the horned slugs in half." He stated, still not looking at her, and continuing to slice the horned slugs in half, length ways.

"The potion doesn't say to-"

"I know." Severus responded, but provided no more explanation, still Lily did as he suggested, before adding them to the potion. Once they were in, Severus begun taking notes, writing them on a scrap of paper and watching closely as they followed the rest of the instructions, and quicker then it had taken them the time they had completed this potion in class, the potion came to the right colour and consistency.

"Well, look at that, so when we cut the slugs they absorb into the potion quicker, making the whole process better?" Lily asked, though somewhat rhetorically. "Is this was Slughorn wanted from us? To see if we can better the potions?" However it was clear Severus was not listening to her, instead bent over the potions book and scrawling over it. So Lily gathered together the ingredients and begun to put them back in their place, cleaning up after them, until she had finished clearing away and Severus had apparently finished scrawling.

"I'm going to take the potions book." Severus told her, his black eyes never quite able to meet her own emerald ones.

"That's fine, Severus," Lily responded. "Slughorn said he'd contact us both when he wants us to work on the next potion, as he's your Head of House, I'll let you tell him about our findings today."

With a curt nod, the boy turned on his heels and left the room, leaving Lily to watch his retreating back.

* * *

"Come on!" Sirius insisted as he spoke to the group before him, most of which didn't look nearly as enthused as he did about his brilliant idea. "It'll be great, I mean, what could possibly beat spending Halloween in the forbidden forest?!"

"Yeah, come on guys!" James who stood beside him also insisted, it was as clear as day that he wanted to follow through on this crazy idea as much as Sirius did, however, apart from Cam, none of the others seemed keen on the idea. "It'll be awesome, and it's Hogwarts, so really, you know we'll be fine!"

"Except from the werewolves!" Peter suddenly squeaked, his voice at a pitch so high, Lily honestly wondered how the glass windows hadn't shattered, though she could hardly blame him.

"There's no werewolves tonight Peter," Remus assured him, with a kind smile on his face. "It's not a full moon for a couple of nights. You don't have to worry about that."

"No, but what about the other stuff?" Taliah hissed at him, clearly unsettled by the whole concept. "It's forbidden for a reason."

"I'm with Taliah on this," Lainey stated firmly, her usually smiling face pulled into a deep frown. "It's forbidden for a reason, even if there wasn't anything scary in there, what if someone accidentally got hurt? In the middle of the night out there, there would be no one to help us, and I've broken an arm before, it hurts!"

"Aw guys," Sirius finally sighed, throwing himself down on the chair beside him, dark grey eyes reflecting his clear disappointment at this turn of events. He picked at the material covering the arm of the chair, and for a second Lily felt for the boy, he was clearly very into this idea of spending Halloween in the Forbidden forest, she just didn't see why he didn't go do it on his own. "What are we gonna do instead then? I mean we have to do something! It's Halloween, it would be wrong if we didn't. And it's already getting dark now, so we better decide soon!"

"Why not share scary stories?" Bec asked, suddenly grinning at the group. "We're in a haunted castle, so why not so and find an empty room somewhere, maybe even up on top of one of the towers! I've taken loads of sweets from the feast we had today, I bet all of you have too, why don't we sit down and share scary stories somewhere?"

"If you won't go with us to the Forbidden forest, you can't say no to that!" James insisted as he eyed the group.

"I could agree to that," Dale said finally, as slowly most the group begun to nods their heads in agreements, all but Lily. "Lily?"

"But, we'll be out after hours," Lily replied, sounding defiant. "I don't want to be caught out after hours."

"Then let's just not get caught."

* * *

That was how Lily found herself sat inside one of the many towers of Hogwarts, with her group of friends. It was one of the smaller towers they were in, which had required a short climb up a ladder, into a crusty smelling room, with three rows of four tables and chairs which were clearly very much disused as given away by the layer of dust that covered them. The ceiling was high and full of thick cobwebs, with nothing but the light of the nearly full moon shinning in through a high window, illuminating the cobwebs more than the room itself.

"It smells in here." Lily stated, twitching her nose as she looked around the room, absolutely everything was covered in a thick layer of dust, it was clear this room hadn't been used for years.

"Of course it smells," Sirius replied smoothly, though there was an ever mischievous glint in his eye. "It's from the dead students they used to store up here!"

A horrified squeak left Peters lips as Lainey gripped Cams arm in her hands.

"No one's died at Hogwarts," Dale mumbled, sounding thoroughly uncertain as he did. "Especially not any students, that wouldn't happen at Hogwarts."

"That's not true," Taliah interjected, causing everyone to turn and look at her, even in the darkness of the room there was nervousness written across Taliahs face as she corrected Dale, who suddenly paled. "Moaning Myrtle died here, when she was a student too, she died in the first floor girls' bathroom, it why she haunts the bathrooms. She was killed in her fourth year, supposedly by a beast that was hidden in the school walls."

"There was a _beast_ in the school walls? Like a monster, who killed a student?" Bec demanded, her voice a higher octave then ever before. Her usually pale skin was white under the moonlight as she stood directly under the window, as if in some way that mere bit of light would protect her from what may hide in the darkness. "In Hogwarts?"

"Is it still here, did they find it?" Sirius questioned eagerly as the others started to slowly move towards Bec under the window, even Lily hand her wand in hand, illuminating the tip of it – but she was clearly the only one who knew how. They edged away from the corners of the room, putting as much distance between them and the dark shapes that seemed to have appeared from nowhere.

"I don't know… I don't think so, or we'd know what it is, right? I mean, if an monster killed a student in Hogwarts we really _should_ know what it was, when it was caught… but no one really seems to know anything…" Taliah reasoned, sounding more and more panicked as she continued talking. Her eyes darting around the room, trying to place every shape and shadow to something normal. And they all felt the fear welling up inside them, even Sirius was tellingly quiet. "It can't be still here, can it?"

"I don't know… What if it had babies or something?" James suddenly demanded, looking at each person wide eyed as Peter begun sniffling, crying with his terror. "There could be more out there! What if that's the reason there's a curfew!"

As this thought settled in the minds of the group of eleven year olds, a creak broke out in the far, dark corner of the room, Sirius shushed everyone as the group gasped and they all stared at the spot they thought had come from. Willing up as much of that Gryffindor courage as she had Cam took a step towards the noise, Lily could only assume to investigate, she paused before turning to look at the group behind her.

"Guys it's noth-"

"ROARRRRRRRRRRRRRR!"

Screams erupted from the group, as they raced towards the exit, practically throwing themselves down the trapdoor in their haste to escape from the beast they were certain was going to attack them, hitting the ground running, screaming all the way back to the Gryffindor Common room.

"Hehehehehehe." A voice cackled from the darkness. "Peevesy got the ickle first years so scared!"

* * *

"Did you know?" James demanded of his brother Will the following morning, after he and Sirius had trudged down from what was most probably a sleepless night if it was anything like the girls'. Will looked at his brother with confusion across his face, but this did not deter James from his questioning. "Did you know about the monster?"

"James," Will replied, scratching his head as he looked at his little brother, his eyes searching the table, pausing when they reached their sister Kate who was watching them with equal confusion, it was not like James was being particularly quiet, so most of Gryffindor had probably heard his demanding question. "What are you talking about? What monster?"

"The one that killed the girl in the toilets!" James insisted, he young eleven year old clearly beginning to look frustrated. Usually he and his siblings were very honest with each other, it had been one of the things they did, but they'd managed somehow to miss out the bit about there being a monster at Hogwarts. "The monster that killed the girl! Will! Me and Sirius and that were out in the old disused tower and-"

"The old disused tower? In the south side of the castle?" Will asked incredulously. "What were you even doing there? When?"

"Last night, for Halloween, we were telling stories, or going to, but Taliah pointed out the girl who haunts the bathroom, and then the monster, and then it came after us! We all heard it!"

"James, there isn't a monster." Will told him, as Kate approached the pair concern and confusion marring her pretty face. "I really don't know what you're on about?"

Watching the interaction closely, Lily begun to worry. What had happened last night? She'd known it was a bad idea before they had even set out, sneaking around the castle at night was not her real idea of fun, but it was Halloween and there was a part of her which had wanted to enjoy the magic of spending it in the castle, but like the others she had been terrified at the noise that had erupted. It was the reason she was so tired today, having been kept up half the night with fears of the beast coming after her. She'd slept with her wand under her pillow.

"In the school, in the tower, we _heard_ it."

Head turned as his words were followed by a loud cackle up in the rafters of the Great Hall before a short man suddenly appeared floating in the air only a couple of feet above James, he was wearing a ridiculous outfit of bright orange and purple with a bell hat atop his head, a wide grin spread across his face.

"Peeves!" Kate hissed, glaring at the cackling man.

"Ohhhhh the little Pottys face!" The man cackled, attracting the attention of every student in the Great Hall, his voice so loud that the cutlery shuddered slightly. "Seen the whole lot those the firsties scream and peevesy scared them!"

"Peeves go away, or I'll get the Bloody Baron over here to get rid of you!" A older girl suddenly called over from the Slytherin table, spotting a seventh year with light brown hair glaring at the ghost that hovered above James. "Now, Peeves, shoo!"

"A-drone-da-"

"Head Girl to you Peeves, now scat, I'm a Slytherin, so you know the Bloody Baron will answer me. Or should I just go ahead and summon him." The ghost let out a loud raspberry before disappearing on the spot, when he was gone the girl got up and wandered towards the small group of siblings, which seemed to be the cue for everyone to return back to their morning breakfast. She had brown hair and pale skin, she was pretty in a way which was different to the norm, something odd in her face that was more unique. "Kate, as sixth year prefect I'd have expected better from you, especially at Halloween, you should have had this under control, and not had first years wandering the castle. Where's your oaf of a brother, Head Boy my arse."

"Sorry Andie, really," Kate replied, looking guilty. "I didn't think they'd be quite that brazen."

"You're in for a hellish year, Sirius has always been a troublemaker," Andie replied, hey eyes flicking towards the boy, who rolled his eyes dramatically. Lily looked between the pair and noticed they had the same silver eyes, perhaps they were related, as her statement seemed really quite familiar. "You're brother as Head Boy and a Gryffindor should have had this under wraps, I can't watch your first years as well as my own – they've been hellish this year, there's a lot going on," Her voice was quieter now, as if she was trying to avoid anyone hearing what she was saying, and for the most part they weren't listening, James and Sirius were whispering with the boys and the girls were discussing their relief at the lack of monster, but Lily was listening closely, she knew eavesdropping was rude, but she wanted to be Head Girl one day, maybe she could learn something. "You've got to watch them, honestly Kate, it's not been great in my house, I'd hate for that to spill out into the corridors."

"I understand, sorry Andie, I dunno where Tom is, but probably the quidditch pitch, should I go get him so you can talk to him?" Kate asked, clearly apologetic.

"No, I'll find him myself." The responded, before her eyes turned to the group of first year Gryffindors. "You lot, you broke the rules, I don't have the time or will to oversee you in detention, I will however remove five points from Gryffindor for each of you, which is fifty points total. No more wandering the castle when you shouldn't be, and I will be informing Professor McGonagall of why I am removing so many points from her House, do expect her to be having a word with the lot of you."

"Fifty points?!" Dale gasped, suddenly paling, knowing that the rest of Gryffindor would not take this loss of points too happily.

"Would you like me to make it fifty points each and ruin Gryffindors chances of the house cup?" Andie turned her silvery eyes to Dale who instantly closed his mouth and shook his head. "I didn't think so, behave and remember the rules apply to you as well as the rest of the school."

"But Andie-"

"Don't you 'but Andie' me, Sirius Black," The girl cut him off, stepping towards the boy and leaning down until she was his height, and lowered her voice. "Don't be stupid Sirius, you pissed of the family enough when you turned out to be a Gryffindor, they're watching you. And I don't want to see you suffer anymore Sirius, don't make things harder for yourself where they don't need to be."

"They're just being stupid-"

"And so are you Sirius, please don't give them reason to do something stupid. You're my favourite little cousin, I want you to watch your back."


	8. Chapter 8

Strange silence followed the group as they made their way to their first lesson of the day, eavesdropping was rude, but the girls couldn't help but hear what had been said to Sirius by the Head Girl, apparently his cousin named Andi. For her part, Lily had grown up in an entirely loving family, she couldn't ever imagine them being annoyed at her, well not until her sister had taken a disliking to her magic and attendance of Hogwarts, but still, that would blow over she was sure. But to need to 'watch your back' against your own family was an entirely new concept to the small redhead.

She was so lost in this strange thought that she entirely missed the fact her group of friends were turning the corner of the corridor, and instead she continued forward, straight into the solid brick wall, quite hard as they'd been rushing towards the classroom to avoid being late – given Gryffindor had already lost so many points that morning. So with a loud thump and a distinctive crunch, lily felt her face flattened against the wall, and a sudden rush of warmth down her upper lip and chin, before tasting the tangy taste of blood on her lips and tip of her tongue. Tears formed in her eyes immediately as she pushed against the wall, hard, accidentally throwing herself to the floor with the force she reacted to the pain.

For a moment she remained in place on the floor, stunned with blood and tears dripping down her face, she looked at her hands which seemed to have coated themselves in red paint, before she realised it was her own blood. She looked up at the wall, which was splashed too with blood, at the right height to have been coming from her nose.

It had happened all so quickly that it took her friends a moment to realise that Lily was not with them, Bec turned to say something to her, only to see no Lily beside her. Turning on her heel, she spotted the redhead, with a few people staring at her, sat on the floor, in front of the wall, with blood rapidly dripping from her face, in fact she dared say it was streaming from her face. Her white shirt was definitely stained and the tie that was once red and gold was not entirely red.

"Lily!" Bec shrieked, rushing towards her friend, who was sat silently staring at her own blood covered hands. "Lily! What happened to you!?"

"She just walked into that wall," A Hufflepuff boy told Bec as she knelt beside her friend, the others had clearly cottoned on, to see their redheaded friend, covered in red the same colour as her hair, looking paler then usual and wide eyed. "She needs to get to Madame Pomfrey."

"Come on Lily," Bec said grasping Lily's hand in her own, smearing it with her friends blood, which she resolutely ignored. She carefully helped her friend to her feel, looking towards her friends who had all rushed to her side. "Can someone let Professor McGonagall know that we're going to be late and Lily probably won't be able to attend classes today." It was Dale who nodded, turning on his heel and running down the corridor towards their classroom. "Alright Lily, let's get you to the hospital wing… Erm, who knows where the hospital wing is?"

The group of first years looked at each other, before Remus grasped Lily's other bloody hand in his own.

"Come on, I know the way," Remus said, leading the redhead forward, as she began to cry, the tears followed by groans. "It's alright Lily, Madame Pomfrey will have you fixed in no time."

* * *

Remus had been right, they'd taken her to the hospital wing, a large room lined with bed either side, though all of them had appeared empty when she had been helped into the room by her friends. Madame Pomfrey herself was a woman who was perhaps the higher end of middle aged, with light brown hair that was greying, a round face with thin lips, which when they spotted the redhead fell open into an 'O' shape.

"What on earth happened to you?" The woman demanded as she ushered Lily towards a bed and helped her sit on it, quickly inspecting her face, her blue eyes clear and taking in everything, before she removed he wand from her white nurses robes.

"She walked into a wall," Bec told the woman as she started clearing away the blood with her wand, which helped make Lily look better immediately, however, it highlighted that her nose looked decidedly out of shape. "Well, she kinda walked, kinda ran into the wall. I turned around and she was just on the floor covered in blood."

"You really should pay more attention, walking into walls and breaking your nose is not going to help you in any situation." Madame Pomfrey tsked, as she looked at Lily's face from as many angles as was possible. "I can fix this, but it'll hurt Miss Evans, just as the nose replaces. Alright, only one of you need to be here, Mr Lupin, I suggest you go back to classes for now, and I will see you later tonight." Remus nodded his head, before quickly disappearing form the room without so much as another word. "Ok, Miss Alton, you might want to hold your friends hand, this will not be entirely pleasant."

Screams ripped through the room, and it would not be unreasonable to believe they could be heard across the entire castle, as Madame Pomfrey whispered the spell to reset Lily's nose. Bec had grimaced as Lily crushed her hand within her own, treating to break her poor digits as well. Tears streamed furiously from her emerald eyes as the nose reset, in the shock of the original break, she'd barely felt a thing, however, having it fixed was just about excoriating.

"That my dear is the worst of it over, however, I'd like to keep you in for the rest of today, just to keep an eye that your nose has settled well, let's get you cleaned up. Miss Alton, I'm sure Miss Evans would be very grateful if you would fetch her a pair of clean pyjamas."

* * *

It was easy to become quickly bored, Lily found as she searched the ceiling with her eyes once more, looking for some oddity to keep her occupied, if only just for a few minutes of entertainment. However, footsteps distracted her, she turned to the doorway, to see a lone figure stood just in the door way, half hidden by the shadows cast, she blinked a few times before the person stepped forward. Surprise flooded through her as did recognition.

"Severus?" Lily questioned, the surprise at his being there evident in her voice.

"I heard you got hurt," Severus voice said quietly, almost tightly. He didn't quite look at her as he stepped into the room, it wasn't dark but dull with lack of sunlight coming through the large windows. His eyes stuck to the floor as he spoke, only when he finished did he dare look up, catching her emerald orbs with his own nearly black eyes, before looking back to the floor. "Just wanted to see that you were alright… We have a meeting later with Slughorn, do you want me to cover for you?"

"Just let him know that I can't make it this evening," Lily told him, sounding as apologetic as she looked. "I am really sorry."

"It's ok…" Severus said quietly. "I mean, as long as you're ok."

"Yeah… Yeah, I am, thank you." Lily answered, slightly caught off guard by the tenderness in his voice, it was entirely unexpected. It wasn't like she knew him particularly well, they'd attended a number of classes, however, they'd not really spoken outside of the one potions session they'd had set up by Professor Slughorn. "Thank you for checking on me."

"It's ok…" Severus said, and even though he was still quite a distance from her, given that he hadn't dared approach her as she sat in the hospital wing bed. "I will see you later."

"Yes, of course."

Turning on his heel, Severus left without another word. Lily was left sat there blinking, stunned by the visit from the boy she didn't really know to check on her. Her friends had been and gone, lunch was currently being served and she had sent them off for food. She'd expected the girls, Bec, Taliah, Lainey and Cam, but they had been joined by Remus, Dale, Sirius, Peter and James too, which she had wholly expected of them. Not really, they were just the boys, troublemaking and a bit silly. But it had been nice, Remus had copied his notes for her, while Dale had talked quidditch with her for a bit.

It had been quite nice.

* * *

"I'm surprised you didn't wind her up," Remus commented as he sat with his friends down in the Great Hall, he was looking towards Sirius as he spoke, his statement was not of criticism, but curiosity. "Lily, I mean, you've been at her endlessly since we got here."

"Yeah," Sirius said with a slight shrug of his shoulders, sounding particularly disinterested. "I mean, Red is pretty and all… But she's a bit boring isn't she? I mean, nice enough, but she just studies all the time."

"You don't fancy Lily anymore because she studies?" Taliah asked, sounding confused by the notion that this would in any way turn a guy off a girl.

"Yeah, but like, a lot…" Sirius responded as he turned back to his lunch. "I just don't think it's normal that someone is that interested in books. She's a bit of a swot, a nice one, but a swot all the same."

* * *

With a yawn, Lily pulled on the dressing down that Bec had brought to her earlier, alongside the pyjamas which the redhead was now wearing. She looked around the long room she'd been in all day, Madame Pomfrey, the nurse, had awoken her to let her know if she was feeling ok she was allowed to go back to her room if she wished. Given that Lily did want to return to her friends she had gathered herself together and called into the nurses office her goodbyes, before wandering past the rows of empty beds towards the doors, only before she reached the large timber doors, they opened before her.

Gasping with her surprise at the sudden movement she hadn't expected, Lily steadied herself looking at the figure that appeared in the doorway, having open it. She was even more surprised at that point.

"Remus?" Lily asked curiously as she looked at her fellow first year Gryffindor, she hadn't told anyone she was leaving nor did he look particularly in need of medical care, at worst he looked a bit pasty – perhaps he was ill.

"Lily, are you going now?" Remus asked quickly, as she circled around her towards the nurses office.

"Yes, I've been given the go ahead to go back to the Gryffindor Tower," Lily answered, watching as her friend looked slightly nervous, his eyes darting between her and the nurses office. "What are you doing here?"

"Erm-"

"Ah, Mr Lupin, I'll take you through to my office now, we'll go see your mother," Madame Pomfreys voice answered, Lily looked towards the woman who had appeared in the doorway of her office, her eyes fixed on Remus, who nodded slightly at her words. "Please Miss Evans make sure you get back to your dorm before it gets too late."

"Of course," Lily answered, with a nod, before smiling at Remus. "I hope your mum is alright."

Disappearing through the rabbit warren of corridors, Lily found herself getting lost. She'd not been to the hospital wing before, so finding her way in the massive expanse of castle was proving nearly impossible. It was growing dark outside, as she paused to peer out the window to try and place where about in the castle she was, she looked down at the now silvery looking under the glare of the moon. Along the grassy horizon, she noted the trees, finally about to just about place where about she was in the castle, likely to be the east side. Placing her hands against the cold stone wall, she went to push herself away from the wall and continue on to the common room, but something caught her eye, with the moon so low and mostly hidden in the cloud, two shadows stretched seemingly endlessly against the grey grass. A tall time frame and a much small frame, Lily peered at them through squinted eyes, until she realised.

"Remus?"

* * *

Just over an hour and a half was how long it took Lily to wander back to the common room, after having spotted her friend crossing the grassy grounds of Hogwarts, going anywhere but to see his mother; that much she knew. She knew it because that section of the grounds led to nowhere but a hill that dropped off into the forbidden forest, which no student was meant to enter, even she guessed with the assistance of the School Nurse Madame Pomfrey. There was no real reason she could think up to explain why they were trekking outside in the dark, with no seeming destination to reach.

These thoughts slowed Lily on her progress to the common room massively, when she was finally there, it was near enough empty, only a few of the older students scattered across the room.

"Lily, what are you doing outside? It's past curfew, please do not tell me you were wandering the corridors, again?" Kate's voice suddenly sounded, causing Lily to turn wide eyed to the older girl who was sat at one of the tables, with a redheaded boy Lily recognised as Fabian. "Well?"

"I'm sorry, just got back from the Hospital wing," Lily explained quickly, her voice slightly squeaky. "It's hard to find your way back from there to here in the dark."

"Oh," Kate responded frowning. "Usually Madame Pomfrey would ask one of the older students to collect you, did she just send you out on your own?"

"Erm, yes," Lily admitted, but she didn't want to blame Madame Pomfrey. "She had another student to attend, I'm sorry, it won't happen again."

"I really hope it doesn't Lily," Kate told her, her voice softening as she spoke now. "Are you ok, I mean having just come from the Hospital Wing? James told me earlier that you walked into a wall?"

"I am, I broke my nose, but Madame Pomfrey fixed it without a problem, she kept me in just in case I banged my head as well." Lily explained, blushing slightly as Fabian snickered. "Actually, I had a question…"

"Shoot."

"Earlier, there was the thing with the Head Girl and Sirius, I realise she's a Slytherin, but she made reference about there being an issue with Sirius being a Gryffindor with his family… and the others, they say stuff about the Slytherins… And I don't really get it," Lily explained, looking into Kate's hazel eyes. "The issues between the two."

"Oh, erm," Kate was clearly a little surprised by the redheads question. "Er-"

"I got this Kate," Fabian suddenly cut her off, he leant forward so he was looking Lily directly in the eye as he spoke to her. "In school did they ever teach you about black people and white people not getting along?" Lily nodded her head, this was one of the many subjects covered in school. "That's called racism, we're lucky here in the Wizarding world, we don't really have that, skin colour isn't really considered, because in the mind of some there's a much bigger issue, that's of blood purity." He told her carefully, as Lily listened intently. "Someone who comes from a family that has always been magical, like Kate and James and the other Potters, or even my family, we're known as 'pure-bloods', but to us that doesn't matter. Unfortunately to some families it does matter. So for example, Sirius, his family really care about being 'pure-blood', they believe it makes them better then people like you, a muggle born. Slytherin itself isn't a bad house, but there's a lot of it that stands for beliefs in being better then others, which is why there's an issue for Sirius, because by not being a Slytherin, he's showing he doesn't believe in 'blood purity' like his family does. Because Gryffindors and Slytherins tend to attract very different types of people, they don't get along, and that's been for as long as anyone can remember." Fabian explained to Lily, who looked perplexed. "Do you understand?"

"Yes, kind of…" Lily answered hesitantly. "But… but why does it matter really that I'm a muggle born? What does it change?"

"It doesn't Lily, it doesn't matter, not to us, you're housemates and not to your friends."

"But it does to people like Sirius' family?" Lily questioned.

"It does, yes," Fabian admitted, before grinning at Lily. "But look at them, Andromeda, the Head Girl, doesn't believe it, she's a great girl, even if she is a Slytherin, and Sirius definitely doesn't. Those that matter don't care, those that care don't matter."


	9. Chapter 9

She never asked Remus what he was doing that night, crossing the grounds at night with Madame Pomfrey, instead she pushed it to the back of her mind, easily done with so much else going on. Instead Lily threw herself into her school work, potions sessions with Severus, as well as attending the Gryffindor Quidditch teams practice sessions and watching the matches they played. And all too soon she was once again on a train, going back to her family for the Christmas Holidays.

"I can't wait to see Daniel and explain everything to him," Bec insisted as she looked at her friends, Daniel being her older brother who had proven to be a normal human. Bec like Lily was a muggle born, with no magical parents, she was the middle child with two brothers; unlike with Lily and her sister who found her odd, Bec and Daniel were still getting along, she wrote to him often to let him know what she was learning and would show him when she returned. Lily had written to Petunia, her older sister, to suggest she do the same, but she received a letter in response with only the word 'No.' written on it. "I think Lewis might join us at Hogwarts, so it'll be just Daniel on his own."

"He'll be ok, Bec," Lainey told her with a smile. "He can still join you with certain things, like the ministry don't just write off muggle born families; it would be unfair on the muggle borns to separate them like that."

"Hopefully, I'm sure he'll enjoy it," Bec added, a smile on her face, she turned to Lily. "What about your family?"

"I dunno…" Lily shrugged slightly. Petunia isn't very keen, she wasn't too happy when Lily had been first told she was a witch, something that only seemed to grow as the rest of the summer past until finally Lily came to Hogwarts, now the redhead had no idea what to expect when she went to see her again, of course, like Bec, Lily also had a younger brother who was about the same age, Rowan. "I guess it's just a wait and see."

* * *

"You've grown so much," A woman with flowing emerald locks gasped as she pulled Lily into her arms, the smaller redhead had barely stepped off the train before she was engulfed into her mothers arms, and held tightly in that position for a moment too long. "And your hair, it's so long!"

Beside her mother, her father stood, quickly pulling his daughter into his arms, lifting her into the air as he did.

"Your brother and sister are in the car, we're going to head out for dinner tonight, somewhere fancy, to celebrate your return," He told her as he placed her back on to her two feet. "Come on darling, let's go, I see ice cream sundaes in your future."

Looking over her shoulder, Lily watched as her friends dispersed towards their various families. Turning back to her father she nodded her head, and went with her parents through the wall back into the train station and towards the exit.

* * *

"Mum, dad!" James heard Kates voice over the rest of the noise on the platform, and wandered in that general direction, until finally he could spot his two brothers stood beside Kate and their parents. He grinned as he neared them, Will reached out and ruffled his hair, however Kate was completely distracted. "Oh sweet Circe! No way! NO WAY!"

"Kate, please calm down," Their mother said with a wide smile on her face, she pushed aside her dark hair and reached down to James who was feeling quite confused about Kate's excitement, he'd been there to pick her up before, and never had she been this excited. She was now hoping from foot to foot while clapping her hands. "You're making a scene, come on, we'll talk at home."

"Talk about what?" James asked as he reached out for the old trainer that his father held out to the family, is siblings also held onto as they begun to feel the familiar tug at their navels.

"About the baby!"

* * *

Two small figures sat in the back of the car, a girl with bright blonde hair that was pulled into a french plait, she was long and slim in every way, she had a long slim nose with a pointed tip, her face too was slightly long, with thin rose lips and barely any colour to her, even her eyes were the lightest shade of blue. Beside her was a young boy, he had a childlike chubbiness to him, a small excited face which was pressed against the window, his emerald eyes searching the streets for the appearance of his family.

Looking at her mother, she spotted the same slimness as the young girl in the car, they both had long necks and noses, and matching light blue eyes. Looking to her father she saw the more pointedness that she herself had inherited, a slightly pointed nose, topped with neatly combed blonde hair that her two siblings had.

"Rowan is so excited to see you," Her mother laughed, her hand on her daughters back as she guided her to the car, a large stately looking thing, befitting her father, a wealthy banker who managed several of the more elite banks in London. "Really, everyone has missed you. Event Pet, I know things were a little tense between you two before you went to school, but she's missed you really, she just has an odd way of showing it."

With no other response in mind, Lily nodded her head, pretending to understand, but she didn't, not really. If she were going to miss her sister, she'd want to spend as much time as possible with them, not avoid them, which was exactly what Petunia had done when the revelation about Lily had been made. Truthfully, the redhead was nervous to be thrown back in with her siblings, so much had changed in such a short space of time.

"Lily!" Rowan called as they neared the car, a wide grin on his face as he looked at her. "I want to know everything!"

A smile broke onto Lily's face as Rowan looked at her excitedly, she looked to Petunia, however the blonde girl was looking out the other car window away from her, rolling her eyes as she did so. Clearly not much had changed.

"What would you like to know?" Lily asked as she climbed into the back of the car, beside her brother.

"Everything!"

"How about the part where I've learnt to fly, on a broom."

* * *

_Dear Lily, _

_Christmas is boring this year, not like before, I think being at Hogwarts has changed me. Nothing compares to wandering around the castle, and that's on a boring day. I don't think it helps that it's just me, mum and dad. I so used to sharing my room with you, Taliah, Cam and Bec that having a room to myself now just seems kinda lonely. _

_There's not a lot of news for me to pass on to you, I saw James and his family, his mum is going to be having another baby, they don't know what yet, so James is all upset that he's not going to be the youngest anymore. Seriously, you should have seen his face, it's like he's already a moody teenager. _

_Cam sent me an owl on Christmas Eve, apparently the Shacklebolt home is driving her mad, I know you've sent a letter to Taliah and Bec too, let them know I'm thinking of them and miss them loads. _

_I can't wait to be back. _

_And thank you for my Christmas card!_

_Love from _

_Lainey xXx_

Smiling, Lily folded up her letter, placing it neatly in the little rack that sat on one of the shelves that lined the left wall of her bedroom. Settling at her desk she quickly pulled out her quill and a piece of parchment.

_Dear Lainey, _

_I know what you mean, I miss Hogwarts. _

_I think that everything has changed… Petunia has made it very clear that she doesn't like my magic, I'm not sure what it is really, we used to be so close, now she won't even stay in a room with me if mum and dad don't make her. Rowan is fine with me, nothing's changed, but he's still little so I don't know if he understands everything. _

_I'm a little lost… How does this one little thing change everything? _

_I'm just feeling a bit odd without you and the girls, I miss Hogwarts, it's become home. _

_And the news, James is having a new baby brother or sister. I can see it now, he's going to be a nightmare, at least she won't ever have to attend Hogwarts with us. I could imagine that being terrible for her._

_I will see you soon, I can't wait to be back. _

_Love from _

_Lily M Evans xXxXx_

* * *

"I know this hasn't been very easy for you, Darling," Her mothers voice sounded as she sat in the living room of their large home, reading a book before the roaring fire – it was the place that reminded her the most of being back at Hogwarts. Lily looked up to see the smiling figure of her mother stood beside the sofa Lily was curled on. She sat beside her with a look in her eye that Lily couldn't place. "Petunia, she doesn't hate you Lily, she loves you, so very much, she was heartbroken when you first left. I probably shouldn't tell you this, but she wrote to your headmaster, requesting permission to attend Hogwarts with you, he was very kind in explaining that she couldn't, but I think she feels rejected and as if she isn't special."

"But that's not true." Lily protested, Petunia was not always easy, but she was talented in other ways, she cared endlessly over Lily when she had been little, always playing with her, even looking after her when she had been ill.

"I know, and I'm glad you know too. That's why I also know that the two of you will figure this out, especially as me and your father believe that Rowan may be joining you at Hogwarts, it's important you are supportive of your sister. She won't always appear to appreciate it, but she does in her heart." Her mother said, running her hand over her daughters matching bright rub red hair that she had inherited from her. "We're family Lily, no matter what happens to us in life, family matters. We'll always be there for you, as I know you will be for us."

* * *

"Did you hear?" Hushed voices whispered along the corridor of the Hogwarts Express as it made its return journey to Hogwarts after the seemingly long Christmas holidays. Lily's ear perked at this, the way those voices held fear within them, barely concealed in their quiet voices. "The werewolves have joined he-who-must-not-be-named, openly. I knew some had always been with him, but now almost all have joined him."

"The werewolves? They always were a bunch of monsters-"

"Lily!" Taliahs voice suddenly ripped Lily from her eavesdropping, and the redhead blinked into consciousness as she looked ahead at her friend who was bouncing down the corridor towards her, a wide grin across her face. "There you are, Cam, Bec and Lainey are just down here, come on, it's been ages!"

"Taliah, how are you?" Lily grinned, throwing her arms around her friend and hugging her closely, and thoughts of anything bad disappeared from her mind.

"Great thanks!" Taliah replied beaming at her friend, pulling back to grab her hand and lead her towards the carriage where their friends were waiting for them. Inside she did find their friends, Cam, Bec and Lainey, however they were not alone, Dale, James, Sirius, Remus and Peter were also in there, and another girl that Lily recognised. Daisy Thornberry, Dale's twin sister and a Hufflepuff, with a round face and massive blue eyes. "Found her, wandering along the corridors, looking lost in thought again! You'd think after breaking her nose she would have learnt, but oh no, Lily had that look in her eye again."

"What was it this time?" Remus asked with a small smile on his face.

"Werewolves," Lily answered with a slight shrug of her shoulders, while all her friends seemed to visibly pale and stare at her, Peter sat in the corner even squeaked out loud. "Someone was saying that he-who- … Who… erm, some man with no name was recruiting werewolves."

"He-who-must-not-be-named?" James asked, sounding shocked, it was clear that no one had quite expected that to be the topic that had left Lily lost in her own mind once more. "Why were you thinking about him for?"

"I heard someone mention him, it wasn't something I was just thinking about," Lily replied, slightly defensively. "Something about him and the werewolves joining together… But I just thought it was odd."

"Which bit?"

"The bit where everyone just accepts that because someone is a werewolf, that they are suddenly joining forces with he-who-has-no-name-"

"He-who-must-not-be-named-"

"Whatever name." Lily sighed at James' correction. "How many of us have ever met a werewolf? Really? So how would any of us ever truly know that they were _all_ joining what's-his-name?" She sounded frustrated as she spoke. "You were all determined that _all _Slytherins are bad people too, but that's not true, look at Andromeda and Severus-"

"Snape-"

"Severus is nice to me, but you all just write him off as evil because he's a Slytherin, just as so many people have the werewolves, and the truth is it's not that simple," Lily told her friends, who all looked at each other, seemingly a bit uncomfortable. "I just don't get why it's so hard for that to be understood."

"You didn't grow up here, Lily," Cam told her friend suddenly, sounding slightly putout. "You haven't spent the last few years seeing the things we have. You're the one who doesn't understand." Her dark eyes flashed with anger. "And werewolves are dangerous, have you ever heard of Fenrir Greyback? He's a monster-"

"Not, all of them are like him though," Remus piped up, though he stared at his shoes. "And Lily's right, Andromeda is a Slytherin, but she isn't bad either. I don't really know Snape, but Lily does, none of us know him, but lets be honest we've all just made him out like to be like some of the others. Fenrir Greyback is a monster, he was _before_ he was a werewolf, it's not because he's a werewolf that he's evil – he's just evil. Not every Slytherin is evil, not every one of them is like the rest of Sirius' family. Sirius is a Black, so is Andromeda, but they're nothing like the rest of them."

"Werewolves kill people Remus." Peter told him with a loud squeak, sounding confused at how Remus could not know this.

"But that's the werewolf in them, not the person themselves…" Remus explained, still never looking up at his friends, staring intently at his shoes. "Lily's right."

* * *

"I don't think they suspect anything, just so you know," Lily said quietly as she took a seat beside Remus that evening in the common room, the girls were chatting animatedly to each other as Sirius and James played a game of exploding snap while Dale and Peter watched. "But I do."

"I don't know-"

"Werewolf." Lily said, her voice no more than a whisper as she looked at her friend. It had struck her quite violently when they were on the train, Remus was the only one who agreed with her, however as he did, he wouldn't look any of them in the eye, like he was ashamed. After her stay in the hospital wing she had seen him out in the grounds – that wasn't the way to his mother, she knew that much. He disappeared monthly, under the guise of visiting his mother, but when Lily had searched her calendar, she had noticed the pattern, it wasn't just monthly, it was each full moon. Maybe she was wrong, but she didn't think she was. "It's ok, I worked it out, and we're ok, I'm ok with it… but, is there anything I can do? It seems such an awful thing to go through… Is there anything I can do for you?"

"No, nothing…" Remus whispered, his face had gone completely white and Lily really felt for him in that moment, perhaps she would have been better having said nothing, but that hadn't felt like a comfortable option to her when she had considered it. So she reached for Remus' hand and held it within her own, squeezing it slightly, as her mother had done to her numerous times, a sign of comfort. Finally Remus looked her in the eye, his amber eyes bright.

"It's ok Remus."

"Thank you."


	10. Chapter 10

"Stirring it in this way mixes the potion faster than just stirring it in circles," Severus explained to Professor Slughorn as he inspected the potion Severus and Lily had spent the afternoon working on, however, except from the way it was stirred, there was little they could do to improve the potion. "Is that everything for today?"

"Yes, that's excellent work you two," Slughorn said distractedly as he scribbled across a piece of parchment, he'd had them working on this endlessly for weeks now; gone were the wintery days of winter as the blossoms begun to bloom as they entered April. "I think that's everything, go along to your common rooms now."

Not needing telling twice the two students left his room, arms wrapped around their potions books as they went. Lily smiled at Severus quickly, before she took the stairwell out of the dungeons where the potion room was, leaving him to depart towards his own common room. She was passing through the main entrance hall when she heard two girlish voices chatting, though she didn't listen immediately, she soon caught the sound of a name she recognised 'Potter'.

"Come on Grace, you're with Tom Potter, what's the problem with that?" The first voice asked, sounding surprised.

"Toms great, don't get me wrong, we have fun," The girl responded, her words trailing off slightly as she paused to mull over her thoughts. "Just it's not a _thing_ y'know, it's great, it really is, I'm having a right laugh, but we're not exactly in love."

"You've been together for like nearly a year-"

"Yeah, but doesn't mean I'm madly in love with him, don't get me wrong, I adore Tom. He's like my best friend, except you of course Kim, and that's it, the sex is great, I'm comfortable, but I imagine once Hogwarts is done, we'll go our separate ways, if not beforehand," The second girl continued as they rounded the corners, pausing when they saw the little redhead stood there in the entrance way. Lily eyed them both, she was able to place Grace as the tall, slim, brunette with a slightly angular face, beside her Kim was a young east Asian girl, pretty with pale skin and long dark hair. "Well hello, what are you doing out here? It's getting late, shouldn't you be back in your common room?"

"I've just left a study session, sorry, excuse me." Lily mumbled moving forward, her head determinedly looking at her feet, embarrassed by her own eavesdropping, a bad habit she had picked up at Hogwarts.

She continued around the corner, feeling relief flood through her as she went to march on towards the staircase to get back to her own tower, when a hand suddenly clasped around her upper arm. Snapping her head towards the person to had grabbed her Lily saw a boy, he was much older then herself, but she couldn't make out much in the way of his features as he was half hidden in the shadows. Just as she went to open her mouth to say something she felt a sudden light-headedness overcome her, so much so that she forgot entirely her intent to complain and instead slumped forward, her head hanging forward.

* * *

"That Snape kid hasn't got a fucking clue has he," A male voice laughed cruelly, though his laugh was a lot more like a snicker. "Just told us without a second thought, stupid idiot."

"At least that idiot is able to let us know the information we want, such as where the little priss Lily Evans is," A girl responded with a snap. Lily tried to open her eyes to see who was speaking, perhaps she had, but all there was for her to see what darkness, she could barely move, but she could feel the fear searing through her veins as she tried to not draw attention to herself. "For a mudblood she's a little too smart, and I'm a little fed up of the way people talk about her."

"Jealous our we?" Another male asked with a voice laced in amusement.

"Jealous, of a mudblood? Please!" The girl responded in a snarl. "So go on, divulge to us what the plan is now?"

"Plan?"

"Yes, the plan. Confuse the girl, get her somewhere quiet, for what purpose?"

"To let her know we can. She's awake, look at her now, no longer floppy, she's tensed right up, listening to every word we say. The only plan in place is just to let her know that while she's here, she's not safe. That little Lily Evans needs to watch herself, or she'll be in some very difficult situations. That if she doesn't get into her rightful damned place, that we know who her friends are, where to find her. That this little golden girl thing she has got going on has to come to an end." The male voice responded in a bored drawl. "If she doesn't get in line, we'll hurt her and all her little friends, and there's no one out there who can help her."

* * *

Darkness passed, easing through her mind, protecting her from the memories of what had happened. In its passing it left a harshness and a fear. Memories chocked at her, bringing panic to the surface as ice gripped at her heart. The solidness of the floor pressed against her back was all that assured her that she had not been suffering some wicked nightmare in her sleep, for a moment she focused on nothing but the press of cold stone to her back, the spots where it bit painfully into her skin, places she was certain she would find bruises.

Finally placing the palms of her hands against the stone she pushed herself up until she was sitting and able to recognise an abandoned classroom, though she had little idea where she was exactly. There was the stench of musk and dust, dampness clung to the air around her, the air still and cold. Nothing could be heard but the sound of her own ragged breathing, as she curled her arms around her own body. Holding herself together. Suddenly her vision blurred and she was aware of a warm wetness on her cheeks, tears slipping down her face as she remained there in place, unable to bring herself to move.

* * *

With a yawn, Lainey stretched her arms up. Relaxing once more she curled her feet up under her on the chair, her eyes fixed on the flames in the fireplace as they danced madly. A small smile on her face as she watched them, enjoying the heat that flowed outward. She enjoyed the quiet, with nothing but the occasional cackle of the flames as they whipped back and forth. The others had drifted off some time ago, and while Lainey had been tempted to join them, she knew if she were Lily, she'd like it if someone would have waited for her – a sign that she mattered. That someone cared.

She was however drifting off, her eyes grew heavy, her thoughts scattered…

"Lainey O'Hare," A voice broke through the slumber that had taken over Lainey, causing the girl to snap back awake, looking around with wide eyes towards the voice that had so rudely awoken her. She spotted the familiar figure of Bronte stood, there, her hands on her hips, a boy just behind her, a sixth year Lainey did not quite know. "What are you doing down here? It's three in the morning. You have a dorm to sleep in, may I suggest you get there."

Nodding her head, Lainey pulled herself up, standing limply before the Prefect, trudging past her, going from memory and not really looking where she was, but eventually managing to get to her dorm. She opened the door and closed it behind her as quietly as possible, her eyes scanning over her friends beds, their curtains drawn, before climbing into her own bed, she reached over to close her curtain around her own bed, when something occurred to her.

"Lily?" She murmured, rubbing at her eyes, before realising she was not just half asleep, instantly she was on her feet beside her friend's bed. The curtains were open, there was no sleeping redhead under the covers, in fact it was clear the bed had not been touched at all. With confusion and worry filling her Lainey swiftly moved towards the girls' shared bathroom, peering inside, but it clearly was empty. Turning back to the bed, fear suddenly bit at Lainey. "Lily?"

Not knowing what she to do she ran to Taliahs bed, ripping open the curtains, seeing her friends there, stirring, pushing herself up.

"Lainey, what-"

"Where's Lily?"

"What?"

"Lily, she's not in her bed, she's not come back…. Where's Lily-" Her question was immediately cut off however when an alarm sounded out, a screeching wail, immediately ripping the group of first years from their sleep, confusion washed over their faces as they could hear the noise of people running down the stairs, without another words the group did the same.

Down in the common room it was clear that all the Gryffindor house had emptied their dorms, each looking as confused as the girls felt.

"Alright everyone, just take a seat for now!" Tom Potter yelled at the top of his voice, over the loud shrieking alarm, for the most part everyone did as he said, however Lainey rushed towards him. Not understanding he placed his hands on her shoulder to steady the clearly frantic first year. "It's alright, you don't have to be worried, we've got all the prefects here, it's probably just some stupid prank-"

"What stupid prank also means Lily never came back last night?" Lainey demanded, the frustration welling up inside her, it wasn't like Lily was like Camilla who could be out practicing quidditch all night on a broom she stole from her brothers, or maybe even herself searching through he castle for the kitchens, she was Lily, good little Lily, who followed the rules. She wouldn't stay out so far past curfew – if at all, and definitely not on her own. And Lainey knew this, anyone who knew Lily knew that. "She never came back from her potions sessions with Sluggie and Snape!"

Frowning, Tom released his hold on Lainey and turned to Bronte who had appeared beside him.

"Lainey, you didn't do anything did you? I'd only just sent you to bed-" Bronte started but Lainey was nothing having it, she needed them to understand.

"No, I was waiting for Lily! She'd never stay out past curfew, I was just waiting, I didn't even realise what time it was, but when I got to the dorm she wasn't there – she isn't here now!"

"Bronte, you and McLaggen, I'm given you two control of Gryffindor tower, I'm going to go see if I can find McGonagall," Tom stated to Bronte, looking slightly unnerved as he did so. Finally Lainey knew someone understood, and watched as Tom left the common room.

"Bronte! What the hell are you doing?" Kate's voice suddenly shrieked. She ran towards the door, however it sealed closed before she had the chance to even get close to her brother retreating back, she turned to Bronte who kept her face clear of any emotion. "Bronte! What the hell! Do you know what that is-" Kate waved her arms about, and Lainey realised that she was referring to the loud alarm that was going off still. "That's the security alarm, the schools been breached by someone – someone who isn't meant to have access… we're being attacked!"

"KATE!" Bronte hissed, marching forward to Kate, taking her arms in her hands. "You are a prefect, you have to keep your cool, even when you aren't feeling it. Your brother is Head Boy, if he's gone out there it's for a reason. And for Merlins sake do not panic the kids."

* * *

Sitting quietly, beside his brother Will, James waited. It hadn't really been long since the alarm when off, however, time seemed to stretch endlessly, minutes felt like hours. He was sighing when it finally switched off, silence breaking out over the castle with just the echoes of the piercing shriek in their minds.

"Thank Circe for that," Will mumbled, stretching up on his feet towards the ceiling, he looked relieved in James' eyes, like James he was probably happy for the lack of ringing in her ears. They looked towards a couple of sixth year girls who were dolling out headache positions to students who were suffering – however, the Potter household was usually loud and James had not suffered much. "Think our heads would have exploded if it carried on much longer." James shrugged, looking at his friends who looked relieved. "Stay here James, I'm going to have a chat to K-"

"Students, we would like to summon you all to the great hall, Prefects lead the way." It was Professor Dumbledore's voice, as James recognised it, just booming out over the school, as if he were there in person.

Quickly the seventh year prefects took control of the situation send the four and third years down with the fifth year students and prefects, the second years with the sixth years and first with seventh. The journey somehow felt longer than it ever had before, like they were marching towards some sort of doom, and while James knew that was not the case at all, the foreboding that clutched at him would not pass. Even there beside Sirius, his fearless best friend, James knew in his gut that this was not right.

"But Lily-"

"Lainey, Tom went out to inform McGonagll, I'm sure-"

"But-"

"Lainey," Madeline McKinnon stopped the first year short, Madeline was a seventh year with bubblegum pink hair, which often changed colour, though James had been told she wasn't a Metamorphmagus. "Seriously, we trust Tom, give the guy a chance, we don't know what happened, can we just roll with one situation before making one where there may not be one at all."

Watching Lainey, James could tell she wasn't happy with this, and to be honest, James didn't much buy what Madeline said, mostly because she didn't look so certain either. He didn't know Madeline too well, she and Tom had been dating a couple of years back, but James was never very interested in being around Tom when he was with Madeline, all he did was stare at her like she was the best thing in the world. What he did know was that Madeline was fearless, she was a chaser on the quidditch team, before retiring this year after she broke her collar bone leaping from her broom when launching herself at a Slytherin who had thrown a curse at Fabian, she took him down with her, but took the brunt on the landing. If she was uncertain about something, it was something to be concerned about.

They neared the great hall, hearing the sounds of nervous chatter, entering the brightly lit great hall was something of an assault on the tired eyes of the students this early in the morning.

"Ah, there the Gryffindors have arrived, Professor McGonagall attend to your house." James looked to professor McGonagall and scanned through the crowds, her face the picture of stress when her eyes searched the first years faces and she turned to the person beside her, who James realised was Tom. "Minevra?"

"Please, Headmaster, can we make this quick, I will need the prefects." Her voice was strained as she spoke.

"Students, if I can have your attention, we take great agony in having to inform you that this evening there was an attack on the residences of three senior members of the Ministry of Magic, I would therefore request the members of the following families please go through to the trophy room; members of the Bones family, members of the Potter Family and members of the Meadowes family. You will be informed of the status of your family-"

"Sir, I need to stay here," Tom suddenly stopped Dumbledore as he spoke, James was aware of a hand on his wrist pulling him forward, he looked to see his sister leading him away from his friends, towards the front of the great hall, alongside a few others that were most probably Bones' or Meadowes, though really, James was not sure he would be able to tell anymore, it all seemed such a blur. "I have to help find Lily-"

"Tom," Andromeda's voice said quietly, James would have barely registered it if he hadn't come to a pause beside his brother, his sisters grip on his wrist tight. "Go with your family, I got this, just go."

"But-"

"Shove that but up your arse Potter," Andromeda told Tom firmly but with a reassuring smile on her face, James met her eyes, and saw a softness there as she looked at him. "Go look after your siblings, you don't get to play hero all the time, I'll sort out this stuff, just piss off already."

"Come on James," His sisters voice was tight and she was half dragging him forward now, he wanted to move, but his legs didn't seem to be working, before he even realised what was happening, he was in the air, Tom having pulled him onto his back as if he were giving him a piggy back.

Stillness, the moment before the storm, that moment of silence, where everything stops, that's what it was like walking into the trophy room, they paused just beyond the threshold, the four siblings, taking a moment to let everything fall into place. They saw Grace Bones, Toms girlfriend, on the floor a woman not that much older beside her, arms wrapped around the body of Grace, tears flooding down her cheeks as she shook violently.

Placing James on the floor once more, Tom approached the pair kneeling beside Grace, she crawled into his arms.

"They're dead!" her voice screamed, ripping through the room with such anguish that James begun to shake, he watched as she wailed into Toms shoulders and he just sat there on the floor, holding her.

Looking to Kate, James saw tears fall down her cheeks as she eyed the pair on the floor, before searching around the room, and stopping still, before she ran forward, leaping into the arms of their father, his face covered in dirt and what must have been blood, but he caught her and held her tightly.

"Where's mum?" Kate cried, as Will lead James towards their father, both in a state of shock at only seeing their father stood there.

"St Mungos." Their father said as he pulled Will and James into his arms, pressing his lips to the top of heads. "We were out this evening for dinner, we came back and they surprised us. We managed to get away quickly, but Circe your mum is heavily pregnant, we couldn't apparate… then when we finally got into safety, she just went into labour-"

"The baby?" Kate questioned quickly, as she wiped tears from her face.

"You have a little sister," their father told them, his eyes travelling to find his oldest son, and seeing him with Grace on the floor, her head buried in his shoulder, a tight expression came over his face, tears in his eyes – he had been close friends with Graces' and her sisters dad. "We were so very lucky that we'd been out of the house – not everyone was so fortunate."


	11. Chapter 11

"Will staff and prefects ensure you go around in pairs, Miss Evans may just be lost somewhere in the castle, but given that we were attacked this morning, I would like to ensure that this is the case. Whoever did this was making a point, attacking the Ministry, the families, the school and Miss Evans' disappearance is a stretch to believe it was all coincidence. The students are back to their dorms, I would prefer this be done as quickly as possible."

With a nod of her head, Andromeda moved off, she had purposely paired herself with Narcissa Black, her little sister. It was an awful thought that had struck Andromeda when the news had been broken that Lily Evans was missing, but in the pit of her stomach she could feel it. She knew. The whispers in the common room, the comments snide and cruel about the Gryffindor girl that didn't know her place, who showed up the purebloods with her intelligence, who challenge people. Lily Evans. The redhead who had garnered too much attention from a few pure blood boys, sure to mislead them with her looks, ruin the purity of bloodlines. Then Slughorn the over eager fool he was paired her with Snape, the boy was an explosion waiting to happen – the Half Blood Prince, the kid who was the result of Eileen Prince's damnation of her families blood line, and what was worse with a muggle who beat her – it was common knowledge in the Slytherin common room. He had so much to prove, and Andromeda had seen some of the older kids latch onto him – he who spent so much time with her, would know so much.

What was worse was knowing Lucius was not far behind this, he was smart, he was conniving, he hid behind others where possible, allowed other to sully their hands for him. But Andromeda knew better. What she knew was that Lucius Malfoy was a vile piece of shit, and no amount of gold would change that. He was arrogant, he was cruel, he was a purist. He hated Lily. She'd known through the family that his family had taken a very active interest in You-Know-Who, the family believed what he did whole heartedly, but as they were basically the financial backers to the man who could only reasonably considered criminally insane, Andromeda had naively believed that was where the connection would end. They would fund his exploits, not get actually involved with them.

And yet, here she was, wandering the corridors with her little sister, the girl basically betrothed to Lucius Malfoy, on the night that there were a number of systematic attacks – just to prove that You-Know-Who could and would. And in her heart she knew, they weren't _just_ funding His exploits – they were actively partaking in them.

"Stop thinking, really Andi, you're doing none of us any good, wandering the castle practically chewing your lip off," Narcissa drawled, flicking her ice blonde hair over her shoulder before peering into another classroom as they wandered the halls. "It's not very attractive, you know mother hates it when you do that."

"Yeah, she is very selective about what she hates and what she loves," Andromeda replied, knowing full well that her mother had very little room for love. She was a cold hearted cow at the best of times. "She sure loves your boyfriend-"

"I don't have a boyfriend-"

"Fianc-"

"I don't have one of those either Andi," Narcissa replied, raising a single perfectly shaped eyebrow at her sister. "I'm not you after all, not such a fan of settling down young."

"I'm not settling down-"

"Sure you're not," Narcissa replied sarcastically. "Tell that to that Edward Tonks who used to follow you around like a little lost puppy, really, it's quite flattering, even from a muggle born. He's still waiting for you isn't he?"

"Ted is none of your business," Andromeda snapped, not looking at her sister. "And he's not waiting for me."

"Some might say he really is my business, after all the family tree seems to shrink a little bit each year," Narcissa replied with ease. "Go on, you've got bite in your tone, it means you want to say something, you might as well say it."

"I don't have anything to say-"

"Tell that to your lip." Narcissa laughed as she paused and looked into through another door, finding nothing but an empty cupboard on the other side.

"Do you even know what you're getting yourself into?" Andromeda suddenly burst out, looking imploringly at her sister. "With Lucius? Do you actually know what you are getting yourself into with him?"

Stopping in the corridor, Narcissa turned to look at her sister – they were in every way opposites, where Andromeda was curvy and womanly, her hair was honey brown with dark eyes. Narcissa for her part was waif like, with icy blonde hair and matching ice blue eyes – she was not the traditional looking member of the Black family, not like Andromeda and their sister Bellatrix were. Narcissa looked like her great-aunt Cassiopeia, one of the pale ones. And here they were again, being complete opposites.

"Does it matter?" Narcissa shrugged her shoulder slightly as they looked at her sisters horrified expression. "Does it matter who he is, what he does, as long as I am safe and protected, as long as I'm not forced to partake and as long as I have no option anyway?"

"You have a choice," Andromeda replied confused, unsure at what her sister meant. "Everyone has a choice."

Laughing, Narcissa shook her head.

"Let's play a game, let's play the one where we imagine the future… Dear auntie is going to remove you from the family tree, Andi, you're going to be blasted off the tapestry the moment you leave this place and move in with that muggle born you love." Narcissa told her. "When you are blown off like that, there's no coming back, you lose everything, absolutely everything. Mother and Father have already decided I'm going to marry Lucius Malfoy. In fact our whole family are already planning the wedding, it'll be the best match a member of the Black family have made in years – and it's on me. And you think I have a choice?" She smiled at Andi and small sad smile. "You might be willing to risk it all for the one you love, but what would I be risking it all for?"

"How about not to be with someone who does this?"

"Does what Andi?" Narcissa demanded. "Does what, we don't know that he's done anyth-"

"You know he has."

"I know nothing," Narcissa snarled back, it was the first time Andromeda had ever seen her angry like that, it shocked her so much she actually stepped back, away from her sister with her surprise. "And I will be quite happy living a life where I will have the comfort of financial security, a good name, my family still around and all in blissful ignorance."

"Is that really what you want?" Andromeda asked, her heart suddenly broken for her younger sister. Wondering now whether it matter at all what her sister wanted, she was young and beautiful – strikingly beautiful – ethereal in her looks. She was the perfect piece in a game. Narcissa had always been quiet, obediently following everything her parents said, she was in many ways the perfect daughter. Their older sister Bellatrix was not their favourite, she was smart but often overzealous, impulsive, she didn't use her sharp mind – she'd married off to a respectable family, but had barely managed to hide her disdain on the wedding day for her charming husband. Narcissa was smarter than that, she played the game well, perfectly. Andromeda was their least favourite daughter, too easy going, too accepting.

"What I want doesn't matter."

"Of course it d-"

"It doesn't Andromeda, I'm not you, my choices don't matter because I don't have them, I don't have what you have," Narcissa replied, this time her tone was calm, collected, she was back to the Narcissa that Andromeda had always known. It was kind too, as if she were explaining something complicated to a child she was particularly fond of. "It's ok Andi." With a quick turn of her heel, Narcissa moved forward, continuing to peer into the various rooms they passed, zigzagging back and forth across the corridor, before disappearing entirely into a room, Andromeda still just trailing behind her, seemingly lost in thought. "Andromeda! I found her!"

Jogging towards the room, Andromeda stopped in the door way, to see Narcissa kneeling beside the small, redheaded first year girl. She was pale, with dark circles under her eyes, her clothing was ruffled, there was a tear in one of the arms of her shirt and a bruise appeared around her eye.

Narcissa looked up at Andromeda from the girl, her face blank of any emotion, but that did not hide the fear in those ice blue eyes. Andromeda received her wand from her picket and held it out.

"Expecto Patronum!" A silvery bird erupted from her wand. "Let them know, we found her."


	12. Chapter 12

"Amelia said I'll move in with her when I finish Hogwarts, Edgar's got his new wife, so no need to intrude their new happy marriage. Anyway Amelia's said I can have some time, but I don't know… Mum and dad wanted me to get straight into work, mum was in contact with some nurseries, working with young creatures, I think I might just go for it," Grace told Tom as she sat across from him on her bed, she smiled slightly to herself as she looked down at her legs curled beneath her. "And it's made me think, I know it's only been a short while before everything got crazy, but mum and dad, they believed in something y'know, they believed in grasping your future, they were willing to die for it." She paused, wringing her hands, sighing heavily. "How's Lily, she's just little, seems so cruel she got messed up in this."

"I think she's ok, she was really quiet after, but Kates basically adopted her since," Tom admitted, amusement in his tone. He and Andromeda were under instruction to follow her closely until the end of the year at the very least, Lily didn't know who had put her in the classroom or how she had ended up there, she'd been there for a while, just too scared to move. "I think at the moment she's just indignant. Whatever point they were trying to prove, they've just pissed her off."

Laughing Grace nodded her head, unsurprised. Lily was a Gryffindor after all, they were a hot-headed bunch.

"Yeah, of course…" Grace paused, she bit her lip before looking up at Tom. "You've been great y'know, with me for the funeral and there when I need you, but I've been thinking… They wanted me to do stuff, to take life by the horns and all that… You're a great guy Tom, but you're not my future – I wanna hold out for someone who will be."

"You're breaking up with me?" Tom asked surprised, it wasn't arrogance but uncertainty, he'd always known that they weren't a forever thing, but he wasn't considering leaving her while all this was happening, but until she was a bit more secure, however in that moment he found himself proud of her unbreakable spirit.

"I'm breaking up with you Tom Potter," Grace confirmed, a small smile on her face as she did so. "I bet that's a first for you, hey gorgeous."

* * *

"I'm ok, really," Lily assured Bec as they sat down for breakfast, since the event as Lily referred to it, her friends had been nearly constantly checking on her, the girls were impossible to get away from, but then the boys would join in, and when they weren't around Kate or Bronte or Andromeda or even some of the seventh year and sixth year boys were checking on her. It seemed constant. And while she knew they all had the best of intentions, letting her know she was safe and protected, all they really achieved was to make her feel like she was unable to look after herself. It made her feel weak, insignificant and like she really was the victim of something. And that wasn't who she wanted to be. "Please I'm ok."

Finally, having had enough of the glances of her friends, Lily pushed herself away from the table, leaving them behind, moving quickly to ensure no one followed her. She paused in a corridor, taking a moment to enjoy the silence and relief of not being watched.

"I will look after myself." Lily whispered to herself, fetching her wand from her pocket and staring at it for a moment. "I'm a witch, I have as much right as anybody else to be here. I will protect myself."

* * *

"Will you stop being so difficult and openly accept that you are with me?" A voice drawled into her ear as she sat in the Library, studying for the end of year exams that were quickly drawing closer and closer. It had only been a couple of weeks since the world had begun the slow descent to chaos, people were still nervy, but not Narcissa, she held her ground as she felt lips against the outer shell of her ear. "We both know that it's what our families want."

"What about what I want?" It was the first time she had ever dared ask that question, but her conversation with Andromeda the night they found Lily Evans had caused the question to stick in her mind, rolling endlessly through her thoughts.

"Narcissa, what you want is what's best for your family, for you," The voiced drawled, as a body pushed closer to her. "You know that being a Malfoy is what's best for you, I can provide for you things that no one else can." She turned her body finally taking in the boy behind her, a small, sarcastic smile gracing her features as she did so, he was undeniably handsome, a face with lines that you could cut yourself on – sharp features, aristocratically handsome.

"Now, lets not tell lies Lucius," Narcissa drawled back, taking his tie in her hand and pulling his face so close to her own that if he shifted just slightly he'd be kissing her. "There are a few others out there that can provide exactly what you can, and more." She smiled a sickly sweet smile, her upper lip brushing just ever so against his lower lip. "Lets remember our place."

Then she pushed away and talked out the library, a smug smirk on her face as she did. She was just turning the corner to reach the stairwell when a hand grabbed her upper arm tightly, and she was suddenly shoved against the stone wall, looking into Lucius' blue eyes which were flashing dangerously. His body pressed against her, but while this would be usually a sexual position to be in – it wasn't that now, it was a show of dominance.

"Don't ever talk to me like that again, Narcissa, and remember your place!" He hissed, his hand travelling down her body as she stood there stoically. "I want you, and I will have you, and I'll kill any bastard that gets in my way. And you'll show me the respect I deserve as your future husband!"

* * *

"Andi! Andi!" Hearing footsteps, she rushed forward, pushing herself against the door as she desperately grasped at the handle and falling through the door before the footsteps had even the chance to reach the door to open it for her. Desperation soared through her body as she fell onto her hands and knees, her body was shaking as the mix of sudden fear and horror seeped through her body. What had she done? She took a moment to take in the hardwood flooring, before looking up, expecting to see the Slytherin Head Girl before her, instead, it was the tall, muscular build of Tom Potter, shirtless.

"Narcissa, what the hell?" He demanded, though there was a softness in his tone as he leaned down to help Narcissa to her feet, she tried to pull herself away from his hands, but he was persistent, leading her towards a chair and instructing her to sit. "Narcissa what's going on?"

"I wanted Andi-"

"You probably shouldn't have burst into my room, I like your sister and all, but not that much," Tom relied, he was joking she knew that, but there was an unease in his voice. "Narcissa, tell me what's wrong?"

All these years, Narcissa was a solid beauty made of stone. She was an excellent prefect, though she'd never make Head Girl, too emotionless for that. Never before had Tom seen her so lost, rarely did she show anything at all, she was cold stares and raised eyebrows, small smirks. She was intelligent and beautiful and thoroughly controlled in herself. The girl before him now was anything but; she was shaking, visibly shaking, her small, lithe frame trembling viciously. There were tears in her eyes too, icy blue was swimming with tears, her pale face tinted pink in her clear panic. And suddenly Tom was really struck by her vulnerability, never before had he seen it in her.

"I need Andi-"

"But you've got me," Tom told her carefully, kneeling before her, looking her in the eye as tears finally slipped down her cheeks. On instinct he lifted his hand and wiped them away, as he had done for his sister when her first boyfriend broke up with her, or Grace after losing her parents. However, Narcissa stilled, she did not even breathe in the moment following his actions. It was then that Tom realised that Narcissa had probably never been shown tenderness from someone who was not family or very close to her, if at all. "I know I'm not the one you want right now, Narcissa, but if I can help you I will."

Her mouth opened, perfectly tinted rose lips forming an 'O' as she searched for the words needed to articulate what she needed to say, however no sound came. Instead tears brimmed anew in ice blue eyes and hands fisted and released, as struggle showed on a beautiful face.

Time stopped as it dawned on her, she has no words, she had no plan, no idea. What had she wanted from Andromeda? Someone to hold her, someone who knew, someone who could fix everything without anything ever having to change.

"I'm scared." Narcissa croaked, tears slipping slowly from her eyes as she looked deep into the hazel orbs that looked back at her. "I think I've gotten myself too deep into something that I'm too scared to escape."

"What have you gotten too deep in, maybe we can figure out what's next for you?" Tom tried, still knelt before the blonde girl.

"But they've already figured out what's next for me… I'm just living the way they want me to, doing what they tell me to-"

"Then don't."

"How? How do I just not do that, they're my family, they want what's best for us, I have to believe they do… I just… I…"She was at a loss for words, searching the face before her for answers. "How do I do anything but the things they tell me?"

"Do the things you want to Narcissa… You get to decide what you want to do," Tom told her softly, taking her hands in his own and smile a small kind smile at her. "You get to be your own person, with your own value because of who _you _are and the things _you_ decide to do."

"I don't _know_, I don't have a clue about anything I might want to- … I've never had to, I was always just going to marry someone rich, do the things to make them happy, be the things he would need me to be-"

"What about the things you need?" Toms heart broke for her, Narcissa of all the Prefects had always seemed to put together, so in control of herself. And in many ways she was, she was controlled, just not by herself, she was put together but other people. She was a very good puppet, who did exactly what the strings told her to do.

"I-" What did she need, things to sustain her living, food and air, she needed money, an education – a husband… All the things her parents had told her she needed. She never even considered the things she would need, for herself.

A amused smile suddenly lit up Toms face, one she could have easily taken offense at, however she found it hard to ever think she could be offended by something Tom did, he was a good Head Boy for the most part, treated the Prefects with respect, took note of the things they said, despite the fact he was their superior.

"Well, we've got a while to figure it out Narcissa."


	13. Chapter 13

Lateish April had brought with it bright sunshine, though there was still hints of bitterness in the air, remnants of the winter just gone. No longer was there frost or dew hanging to the blades of grass that covered the lands around the castle, the trees had regained their leaves now. And yet the peace had never quite returned.

Despite the protests of her friends, Lily continued her potions sessions with Severus once a week, though they were not as productive as they had once been, mostly due to the fact that the two spoke more freely then they had ever done before.

"Anyway, Cam is going on about how she can't study at all for the end of year exams because she needs to get out and practice on her broom if she wants to make it onto the quidditch team next year," Lily told Severus as they sat side by side in the potions room, deep in the Dungeons of the ancient castle. "I keep telling her that there's plenty of time to do both, but she insists that's not possible. Really I just think she doesn't like studying."

"And you do?"

"Well, I like knowing that I know all the things I need to know…" Lily explained, trailing off slightly, she had been told many times by Sirius that she was a bit of a swot, and it was clear that he was right. "It's not a bad thing, I want to pass all my tests-"

"You will pass them all, no one knows as much as you do-"

"It's not about what everyone else knows," Lily cut him off, and it wasn't about proving what she knew compared to everyone else, or even just proving that she knew everything she did, it was something else. It was a stubbornness in her, and word from her father that and suck deep into he very soul. "_Lily, I know I could ask you to return to home, away from Hogwarts, for all that has happened, but I know in my heart that you love it there. And we should never give up on the things we love. So what I say instead is hold your head and prove your place there, don't prove it for them, because they already know it and that's what scares them, prove it for you." _Like her mother, her father had been deeply hurt by what had happened, and fearful of it too. They wrote to her often, and much of their conversation revolved around her options… He had told her to be safe, to look after herself, but her father had never told her to keep her head down, or hide away. He told her to be brave, to face things head on, to be exactly who she was. "It's what I know, who I am, who I want to be… If I go in there and fail everything, it's ok, as long as I did everything I could. I belong here, on my own terms, not someone else's. I'm not studying to be smart, I do it because I love it. And no one will make me feel like I don't belong in the place I love, doing the thing I love."

"You're a nerd, you know that right?" Severus asked in a friendly way after a moment's pause, a smile gracing his pale face as she looked at Lily through the corner of his eye, Lily laughed, nudging him with her shoulder. She continued grinning, Severus was exactly the type of friend she needed, one who didn't constantly ask how she was, or make her feel like she was being watched. He listened, never judging her. And when needed he made comments that made her laugh, completely distracting her from whatever may be bothering her.

"Takes one to know one, Severus!" Lily replied, sticking her tongue out at the boy.

"If you're a nerd, I'd be happy to be one too."

* * *

Frowning Narcissa looked at her prefect duties schedule, it had been changed, a note was now pinned to the prefects' board in the bathroom, it read:

"_Prefects, _

_As the end of the year draws closer I think it's a time not to become lax in our duties, to brighten things up a bit more, myself and Head Girl Andromeda have agreed to mix up the usual prefect duties. This means you will no longer be paired with a prefect from your own house and year, instead it was all picked at random. Below is the name of your new partner._

_Have fun, take this opportunity to get to know someone new or old but much better, and keep on your toes. _

_Have fun Prefects!_

_Tom Potter_

_Head Boy_"

Beside her name was written that of Tom Potter, she raised a single eyebrow at the name, wondering if he had done this for her, though she could not fathom why he would have done that.

For the moment she pushed that to the back of her mind and pulled her white blonde hair from the neat bun it had been held in all day and begun to strip off her clothes, she was about to jump into the swimming pool sized bathtub when the door opened, she scrambled, grabbing the towel she had discarded to the floor beside her clothing, looking up in time to spot Tom Potter of all people. He stopped dead as his eyes landed on her, his cheeks flushed and he turned his back to her, so he could no longer see anything as her own face blazed with heat.

"I am so sorry!" Tom burst out, his back still to Narcissa.

"You have your own bathroom!" Narcissa hissed, her embarrassment making her angry. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Andromeda takes forever if she's having a bath…" Tom trailed, his hand scratching at the back of his head. "I thought it was too late for a prefect to be using the room… Why aren't you in the girls section?"

"That's none of your business!" Narcissa hissed once more, there was an almost sensible reason why she wasn't, but she was not sure if she was likely to get in trouble for it.

"Actually, as you've been found naked in the boys section of the prefects bathroom…" Tom trailed and Narcissa wished the ground would open up and swallow her whole. He wasn't wrong, but it wasn't as bad as it seemed.

"I like swimming, I've removed the barrier separating boys and girls so I can swim the whole length of the tub." Narcissa told him quickly, desperately grasping at the towel to ensure her modesty was covered, but she had not brought down her biggest towel, assuming the lateness would provide her with adequate cover – who had a bath at so late? She'd know others to jump into the bubbles to cover their modesty when in need, but Narcissa had run herself a clear bath, for the purposes of swimming, and suddenly she was regretting the whole thing.

"Oh." Tom sounded, he begun to turn, but stopped short, and Narcissa felt relief, at least he wasn't trying to peek at her. "Erm… I really need a bath… I've just done some training…"

"But I really need a bath…" Narcissa whispered, horrified to be in this position at all. "OK, keep turned, I can probably transfigure some bits into a swim suit, but I can't get the partition up again, usually my spell wears off after a few hours… Fair compromise?"

"I think so." Tom Agreed, staunchly remaining with his back turned to Narcissa, suddenly feeling very aware of the fact that one of the most beautiful girls in the school was probably about to drop her towel that had barely covered anything in the first place, to transfigure some swimwear. So she could share a bath with him. It was enough to make his trousers tighten. He listened for the sound of her spell and waited a moment before speaking again. "All clear?"

"Erm, yeah, sure," He heard the water, turning as Narcissa lowered her body into the water, submerging herself into the clear water. Removing his wand from his pocket he muttered the same spell to change his briefs into some semblance of sensible swimwear before disrobing and climbing into the water. "Question: Why did you change the pairings?"

"Pairings?" Tom asked as he placed his feet on the bottom of the tub and leant against the wall as Narcissa turned her back on him, swimming to the far end of the pool in a lazy manner, asking her question just over her shoulder as she swam away.

"The prefect pairings."

"Ah." He sounded like a kid who had gotten caught with his hands in the cookie jar, Narcissa couldn't help but grin at the sound of it as she reached the end and took a moment to decide if she was risk swimming back towards him, doing lengths of the tub. She decided she would. "That. Well, I said I would help you if I could… So that's what I'm going to do, all under the premise of prefect duties."

"So the pairings weren't totally random?"

"No… actually, they weren't random at all, me and Andromeda argued for four hours over who to place with who before we sorted it out, though she seemed alright with pairing you and me together." Tom admitted, grinning as he did, which made Narcissa smile. "Plus, the sixth year Ravenclaw and fifth year Hufflepuff need to stop making eyes at each other and finally spend some time together."

Laughing, Narcissa paused at the end of the tub, near Tom, placing her feet on the bottom.

"So you and Andi were playing match maker."

"And while we have no shame, we will deny everything should anyone discover this." Tom told Narcissa with mock seriousness, making her laugh once more. It occurred to Tom that he had never heard her laugh before, not like she was now, so openly. It wasn't condescending, but actually amused. It made her whole face light up.

"You don't take much seriously, do you?" Narcissa asked him, a small smile on her face as she did.

"I dunno," Tom replied with a shrug of his shoulders and a boyish smirk across his face. "Not if I don't have to."

"It's a horror then that you ever made head boy, the jester you are," Narcissa told him laughing, as she flicked water at him. Mock fury spread over his face and before she knew it he had her around the waist, lifted her whole body out of the water and then dropped her back in, with a satisfying splash. She emerged spluttering, her hair plastered down on her face. She parted her water darkened locks and looked at Tom with a stunned expression. "I can't believe you actually did that!"

"And yet, I did." He told her with amusement, he was only just managing to hold back the laughter. "Full of surprises me."

He thought he had her there, done something outlandish to break the icy shell of Narcissa Black, however, the grin dropped when he saw a wicked gleam in those icy orbs that looked back him. Though she did nothing, swimming to the other end of the bath, washed her hair, rinsed her body down, before pulling her lithe frame out of the tub, quickly drying herself off and wrapping her robe around her body. Tom watched her, half worried what she was planning; this was quickly answered. As she left, she passed by his clothes, leaning down and swiping them all into her arm, before pointing her wand towards Tom.

"Accio swimming pants." With a force so strong that Tom was ripped form his feet in the tub, and broke through the surface spluttering as his swimming pants tore themselves form his body, leaving him start naked in the tub, and into Narcissas waiting hand. A smirk covered her face as she dug Tom's wand from his pile of clothes. "You're not the only one full of surprises, Potter." She replied as she turned her back to him and wandered from the prefects' bathroom, leaving Tom in the tub, red faced.


	14. Chapter 14

"Beautiful," Harry breathed as he leant against the doorframe to the small nursery that he and his wife had put together the last few months of her pregnancy, it was all creams with pink accents, as despite never actually checking the gender of their unborn child, Cora had been insistent that it was a little girl, which Harry was more than happy to go along with. Now, his wife held the young baby in her arms, feeding the child with a small smile on her features. "I'm glad that we got to do this once again."

"Oh I dunno," Cora replied, a smirk across her face as she did. "I think my body could have done without the stretch marks. Plus, my body doesn't quite bounce back like it did eighteen years ago."

"I don't care about your body bouncing back-"

"You might not, but I certainly do," Cora cut him off teasingly, though as she looked down at the baby attached to her nipple, feeding eagerly, she knew that any amount of stretch marks or wobbly bits were a price well worth paying. For the harsh way that their darling angel was brought into the world, being so close to never having the chance of experiencing the world, she was a strong child. "I'm thoroughly exhausted, nearly fifty and having a baby. We're lucky she's such a happy child."

"Takes after her mother," Harry told her, walking into the room and up to his wife, placing a kiss atop her head. He felt for his darling wife, forty-eight and pregnant hadn't been on the plans, James was meant to be their last, but as he looked down at their youngest child, he couldn't help but feel like they'd found a little something that was missing from their family before – how could they have ever been complete without her? "We won't be the oldest parents when we take her to Hogwarts for her first year at the very least."

"I don't know how they do it," Cora responded as she heard a small breathy yawn and saw the baby had detached and was now falling into her after feed nap. "Not yet you, burping or you'll be a moody mare the rest of the day."

"How could you call our darling Emma a moody mare?" Harry chuckled as he took the baby from Cora and lifted her against his shoulder and rubbed her back.

"Because she is when she falls asleep before burping," Cora replied with a shrug, picking up a towel from the table beside her and quickly slipping it between Emma's face and Harry's shoulder – just in time to catch the sick up that spewed from her baby's mouth. Remembering when she was twenty and just had Tom, a sure nine months after her wedding night, she hadn't been prepared for how much stuff a baby could produce, the sick, the poop, and lots of other bit of goo that no adult would want on their clothes. Now with her fifth baby she took it all in her stride. "You know the muggles, have this way of controlling baby making processes called a vasectomy, where they go into your-"

"I would stop right there, Cora," Harry held up his hands, looking horrified at her suggestion. "I know what that is, and I'm being very clear with you, it ain't happening woman."

"Harry, let's be real, how close were we to loosing Emma? They were here Harry, in our home. Ingrid and Lewis Bones weren't so lucky were they? Their children are now orphans. And we all know that Geffrey Meadowes isn't getting out of St Mungos, not until the day his body gives up and he's taken out in a coffin. And here we are with a baby to care for, we were so damn lucky to have survived that attack, could we do the same with Emma? I don't want another baby, not in this world as it is." Cora told him with such heartbroken sincerity, as she looked at the child cradled in her arms. "Would you wish this life on anyone?"

"Cora, we have five amazing kids-"

"And a war out there, brewing, costing lives." Cora argued, she loved her children endlessly, but this was not the life she wanted for them. And so little they knew of what they were entering. Harry was Head of the Auror Department, he knew things from the perspective of criminals and crimes committed, Cora had been a senior in the British sector of the International Confederation of Wizards, under Albus Dumbledore, in that role she got a full scale idea if not full understanding of issues affecting the wizarding world. It was in that role she had first come across the name Lord Voldemort, better known as He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. "This isn't going to get better, it's going to get worse. He is not about to let us get on with our cosy little lives, the attacks were a statement, why else attack us, the senior members of the Wizengamont and Ingrid was the undersecretary to the Minister. And Hogwarts? He attacked the school. The incident with the Evans girl was a point well made. Our kids aren't safe in Hogwarts, not anymore."

"Cora…"

"Now, alongside all the danger out there right now, with that little target sign already hovering above our heads, we have a baby to care for," Cora continued. "We just made this a whole lot harder for ourselves."

* * *

_**Thirteen muggle murders in as many weeks: Can the Minister handle it?**_

_Article by Lysandra Stebbins._

_While much of the muggle world remains clueless as to the causes of these deaths, the Ministry of Magic has released a statement to the public, confirming these deaths are suspected to be the work of those calling themselves 'Deatheaters', the morbid name for the followers of You-Know-Who. Minister Eugenia Jenkins is yet to make direct comment on these latest spate of attacks. _

_Many are now questioning her ability to handle this situation at all. While she was successful in supporting the right of Squibs, much of the community which had opposed this movement were left dissatisfied, giving perfect access to a man who exudes all the ideals of this currently disgruntled group. _

_Story continued on Page 5. _

"Have you seen this?" Lainey whispered across the table to Lily and Bec, handing the two the newspaper she had just received. Underneath the article there was the image of a women, and even Lily could see she looked stressed. "Everything's gone mad since the attack, my dad owl'd me saying to keep my head down, and we're purebloods. He reckons no one is safe anymore."

"But the Aurors will handle it," Taliah responded quickly, looing uneasy as she did. "I mean, Mr Potter is meant to be one of the best Head of Department they've ever had, so they'll just figure out a way to stop him."

"I don't think it'll be that easy," Cam countered quietly, the first time that the girls had ever seen the tom boyish Cam ever so subdued. "He' evil, he has no rules, we do."

With a look between them, Lily gave Bec the newspaper, which she put aside, determinedly not paying it any further attention. This was an issue for the adults to handle, sure there had been the one incident with Lily, which they were all still too aware of, but the adults would handle it, they always did. All the girls needed to focus on was passing their end of year exams.

* * *

"I'm hoping that Will get Prefect next year, but I don't think he's that interested, I mean, he's on the quidditch team, but I don't think he's … bothered by it… I mean, he enjoys school and hanging out with his mates and stuff, I just don't think he is so open to the world," Tom explained as he wandered around the ever darkening corridors, keeping an ear and eye out for any students who might still be out of their respective towers. "I think he'll probably quit the quidditch team next year, he only really joined in his third year because I said he should try out for it, he's good, he just doesn't love it. He's a good kid, mum never had to worry about him or Kate, they're so alike, me and James, well, I think we gave her nightmares. Still do actually."

"And you have a new sister now, as well," The girl he wandered the corridors with added, Tom looked at her through the corner of his eye, getting only a flash of blonde hair as he grinned.

"Yes, Emma, mum is one for traditional names. I don't know about her yet, she mainly eats, sleeps and shits at the moment," Tom replied with a laugh, eliciting a small giggle from the blonde. "Emma was a definite surprise, I half suspect she'll be a lot like James… When I met her the first time, after the attack, it was kinda… I dunno… She was really small as she was early, I didn't really know how to hold her or anything, but mum was knackered and I just kind a had a baby dumped in my arms. You kinda know what they say about babies, that you love them instantly, I guess its right, I adore Emma, I know she a lot younger than us lot, but I just find it hard now to imagine a world without her, like I do with all my family."

"You are a true family man, Mr Potter," The girl replied, unable to keep the slight snide tone from her voice.

"Is that an issue, Narcissa?" Tom questioned with surprise in his voice.

"No, no… Of course it isn't…" Narcissa replied, pushing a strand of her hair behind her ear, the only sign of discomfort she let slip, her face was a blank mask, as it often was. "Really, most girls would be swooning at your feet by now."

"But not you."

"But not me."

"Well, what does it take to make you swoon?" Tom asked, grinning as he did, Narcissa looked at him, raising a single perfectly arched eyebrow at him.

"I don't swoon, Potter," Narcissa replied, though there was a hint of teasing in her crisp tone. "And even if I did, why on earth would I tell you?"

"You're killing me here Narcissa," Tom exclaimed, a hand over his heart, melodramatically, his face the picture of heartbreak, and Narcissa could not help but smile. "Come on give a guy a little."

"Give a man an inch and he'll try and take a mile."

"Give a man nothing, you'll only leave him wanting more."

"You're not even a little bit smooth, Potter, so I'd advise you stop trying." Narcissa quipped, carrying on forward to the Transfiguration corridor, she was about to round the corner when an hand gripped around her wrist, pulling her back, until she swung into Toms solid body, his hand releasing her wrist to place against her lower back holding her in place against him, his other hand delving into her hair, tilting her head until it was angled just so his lips could hover over hers, and lower in for a kiss. She was shocked, stunned, and yet she did not pull away, or resist in any manner.

"You're beautiful Narcissa, so beautiful, in fact I don't think that word is enough to really get across how I see you," His voice whispered, she could feel his breath against her lips, so intense it was she felt a shiver travel down her spine. His hazel eyes bore into her own with an intense fire in them. Against her own chest she could feel the strong beat of his heart, holding her there. All together holding her there. "But I do see you, I see you Narcissa, not the image so carefully constructed for the world, but the real girl, and that's simply breath taking, those moments when you let the mask fade away. You are exquisite."

And then, unexpectedly he released her, his hands gently untangling from her clothing and hair, he stepped back and just looked at her, but truly looked at her, in a way that made her feel exposed. She was slightly rumpled from the moment just past, yet she couldn't bring herself to give a damn, not as he looked at her, the intensity still in his eyes, his jaws set solid as if he was really having to control himself in the second. And she broke.

She stepped towards him, reaching for him, instantly his hands and arms drawing her close once more, her head tilted up, his lips found hers and she was a goner from that moment.


	15. Chapter 15

"You'll visit won't you?" Lainey asked her friends as they sat in a compartment of the Hogwarts Expression. The year had come to a halted end, sudden and unexpected, as if one day they were just carrying on and the next packing up with no real sense of the finality of it all. Their first year complete. Lily had sailed through her end of year exams, notably being in the top ten for every subject except Herbology, she knew the theory, but in practice she struggled. Her friends had all done well as well, with Bec just about managing to scrap through potions and herbology as well.

"Of course we will!" Taliah agreed enthusiastically, grinning as she did so. And it seemed so ideal, to be visiting each other over the summer break. So it seemed.

* * *

Tears rolled down reddened cheeks, dripping onto a light pink cotton summer dress, one after the other, in quick succession. A large sniff sounded followed by an arm wiping beneath a running nose, but there was no room for the small girl to even care as she sat there, crying her heart out. The ground was dry and hard beneath her, the sun burning her back, but she paid none of that any heed as she sat there, arms wrapped around her legs which were drawn up to her body. As much as she cried, it was not really a release, not of the words that repeated in her mind endlessly.

"_You're a freak! You're disgusting!_" The words were screeched at her viciously, a finger pointed at her accusingly. "_Only freaks can do that stuff! You belong in a circus! I bet you're evil, you'll turn green! I'll throw a bucket of water over you and destroy you!_"

And while the insults were childish and misplaced, they had stung, it had started the simple act of being ignored, she could ask something as simple as to be passed the salt at the dinner table, and resolutely she would be ignored. But it had escalated into an active dislike, today she had been shoved into the stream, her sister waited for her to start melting then grew angry as she didn't. Screaming insults at her, telling her she didn't deserve to be a part of their normal family.

It had been too much for the small redhead, so often her parents had split the two up over the summer holidays, they were obviously growing tired, however, there was a reluctance in them to stand up for her – to tell Petunia to stop being cruel, perhaps they believed the same as she did. She was a freak.

The return to Hogwarts could not come soon enough. She felt so detached from the world she loved, the place where she belonged. Especially as it was so very clear that she no longer belonged here with her family. Once upon a time she was so very close to her family, but now that was not the case. Petunia clearly hated her, actively made it clear; Rowan her brother used to play with her often, now he hid in his room, clearly avoiding his freak sister. Her parents were the same, her father working longer hours than ever before to avoid her, her mother constantly see to Petunia. She knew, just knew that they all resented her.

* * *

"I was very surprised to receive an owl from you, not many muggle parents contact us directly, particularly over the summer break," Professor McGonagall commented as she stepped inside the pretty house that housed the Evans family, when she had arrived here about a year ago, it had been a happy peaceful family home, now it no longer held the peaceful atmosphere. "I must admit your letter had me a little concerned."

"I apologise, I really do Minerva, but Arthur and I aren't sure that Lily attending Hogwarts is the best thing anymore, but we wanted to seek advice before making any decision." Mary said hesitantly. She looked to her husband with nerves quite evident. "Lily… She seems unsettled, I think that perhaps that we made a mistake agreeing to send her at all…"

"I really can't say one way or another, you are her parents, what I can tell you is this, you have an extraordinary daughter who is very talented," Minerva answered the two concerned looking parents. "But you're her parents with her best in mind, it is for you to decide where her best interests lie."

* * *

Horror struck at her chest as her mother spoke, the words seemingly pouring form her mouth before she had a second to register them.

"Why? Why do you want to take me away from there?" Lily demanded angrily, she was sat in the large dinner room, across from her mother and father, though she felt in that moment she barely knew them. "Why are you taking me from the only place I belong?!"

"Lily," Her mother started, though she was knocked aback with the sudden horror in her daughter voice – perhaps they were wrong. "It's not about taking you away from Hogwarts, it's just since you've been going, you seem more… low then I've ever known you to be."

"And taking me from Hogwarts is what you think will fix it?!" Lily demanded, a mixture of anger and fear bubbling away in her heart. "You don't get it! I love Hogwarts, I belong there! I don't belong here! I don't belong here, not now, not anymore! I'm happy in that world, it's big and it's scary, but I fit there! I'll never fit in here, not now."

And it really was just that simple for the young redhead. As she watched her parents share glances, revealing their uncertainty, but their uncertainty was not her own. Lily had never quite fit in, she was never bullied at school, she had friends, but she'd never had a 'best friend' at school, not like all the other girls who rotated so called best friends in much the same way you would your daily clothes. She and her sister had been close, as she had been with her brother, but Petunia and her had never thought the same, Petunia always so popular in a way that Lily never cared for – when Petunia went to the local secondary school all she seemed to care about them really was boys and her friends and the gossip that they all seemed so enthralled with. When she was at Hogwarts it was like she releasing a breath she had never realised she was holding, that she was finally breathing. It was intoxicating, it was addicting, it was where she was at her most comfortable. Even when things were hard, when she knew people didn't like her, she still knew she _fit _there. And there was no coming back.

"Lily-" Her mother said, seemingly deflated. "We just want what's best for you."

"Hogwarts _is_ what's best for me."

* * *

"But you'll still be coming back this September, won't you?" Cam demanded as she sat across from Lily, her legs crossed as they sat in the garden of Becs home, they had a large town house of a property, Becs father was some sort of banker, and the house was situated in a charming, green area of central London.

"Yes." Lily confirmed as she pulled at the blades of grass, with a decisive nod of her head. Her parents had given in, they'd accepted her decision. "Petunia was so angry when she found out, but it doesn't matter what she thinks."

"It really doesn't, I mean, I know she's you're sister, but people who are mean like that, they don't really count for much," Taliah stated, her voice soft as she smiled supportively at Lily. "Plus, you guys are like my sisters."

"We are like sisters." Cam agreed, a small smile playing on her face as she did.

"I think so too," Bec agreed, as the five girls all looked between themselves. "We're sisters, well, I actually don't have sisters, but this is how I imagined it would be, sharing everything with you guys."

"You're the only people I have to share everything with, so you better believe it!" Lainey agreed, nudging Bec slightly with her shoulder, a massive grin across her face. "We're stuck with each other now, always."

* * *

"Get out of my home," a steady male voice spoke sharply, the man stood firm, the stance of someone unwilling to relent to anything. There was determination written across his face, marred with a loathing undertone. It was dark in the house, explained by the shattered glass of the lightbulbs that littered the otherwise pristine carpet, a house that was well kept. A home. His home. He stood there, his shoulders drawn back, a tenseness that followed down his arm to the hand which gripped his wand tightly. "I said, get out!"

"How very rude of you," A dark snarl sounded, hissing across the room with a brutality in it that could have made a lesser man shake. But stood there in his own home, the man would not shudder, not before those that had forced entry. "Have you not heard it's only polite the welcome guests."

"You're not my guest," The man replied tightly, ignoring the cruel taunt in the female voice that spoke to him. His eyes travelled across each figure that stood in his home, there were six of them altogether, six of them unwelcome in his home. He'd only just arrived back from work, gone towards the back of the house where the kitchen sat to make himself a cup of coffee when there was a knock against the door – he was not given the chance to answer it however, not before it was blasted from its hinges, shattering into a million pieces and scattering across the floor, items around him smashing under the shockwave of the blast. That's had been mere second ago, only enough time for his wife and eldest daughter who were upstairs to begin to move towards the noise, he imagined they had been shocked at first. "Leave!"

"Louie!" A female voice called from the top of the stairway just behind him, he could hear the fear held in her voice, a fear he hated and loved all at once – a fear he had never desired to hear at all, but a fear he knew stopped her from coming down the stairs. "Wh-"

"Why don't you join us Dana," The same cruel voice asked, the female tone sickingly sweet, there was a definite threat held there, one which made his heart race. "Your delightful husband hasn't been overly hospitable."

Silence followed the request, though it was not much of a request – it had been a demand and they all knew it. He looked at the woman who had spoken, she wasn't particularly threatening to look at, an early twenties female, with a devastating beauty that held a darkness… She had a thick mane of ebony hair, flying free and curly around her head, the palest skin, almost as if she might have been ill, she was slim, painfully so, but still curved in a womanly manner – such a strange contrast of a woman. But more then that, was the look on her face, in her dark eyes, it was an absolute detachment, like something was not quite there. She was almost like a hole in his house, taking room up with her emptiness.

"Enough of these games," A new voice hissed, and yet it was as smooth as silk all at once. The entire time that this person had been in the house Louie had avoided looking at him, though him was pushing it… there was little of an actual man that stood there before him. "Join us, you come from a pure family, you would be well suited amongst us."

He'd heard, of course he had heard, that they were recruiting, that they were looking for people to support them, that they were looking to create their power base – he had known. Some joined out of desire to achieve the power promised, out of some long bred hatred of the unknown, most out of fear… Fear of this moment, the moment they forced entry, wands in hands, giving them the simple option – Join. There was no alternative.

Whimpering sounded from upstairs, his wife faltering, he wondered for a second what she was thinking… of who she was thinking of? Was it him? Of their eldest daughter who was upstairs with her, doing well to remain silent? Of their two other children at Hogwarts? Was she running through her mind what would happen next? Replaying their whispered conversations in the middle of the night, when they had planned for this exact occurrence. He wondered for a second whether she had any regrets? Would she change anything that she had agreed to when it was all hypothetical? Perhaps she would, they'd not accounted for one of their children to be home, not really, but then their children were no less targets.

As the thoughts whirled through his mind, in what seemed to be an eternity, he had little time to register the screamed curse from upstairs, though he instantly recognised the voice – almost immediately swallowed by the roaring crack of the ceiling above as he began to crumble and fall around them, almost on top of the six figures which had intruded into their lives. Rubble and broken furniture fell down, he heard the panicked screams of a few of the intruders, a furious roars, and as he threw himself back barely saw as his daughter fell through the ceiling after her curse.

It could have all been in slow motion – she hit the floor, looked up at him, through a bloodied smile, her dark eyes flashing with a wicked, mischievous courage which he had always adored in her. And then he felt the splatter of warm wetness across his face as he looked at his daughter, and she still had that courageous smile on her face – it stayed there as if frozen for a second as time started to catch up, and it fell… Her mouth opened… a scream erupted as she lay there and he blinked at her… He blinked as he heard it… that first millisecond as it all fell into place and he registered the woman standing over his eighteen year old daughter, his brave little girl, wand pointed at her body… Her body… seeping with red against her dark skin… Paleness… The skin ripped from her back… something trailing from her middle… quiet… stillness… her head dropped to the rubble…

* * *

"I can't believe it…" Silence followed the statement, the type of silence that is almost painful. It was a silence caused by devastation and fear and anger all at once. They looked between each other as they sat in the common room, awaiting the return of their friend, unsure of what to expect.

"Do you think she'll be ok?" Another asked.

"How could she be? Have you heard what they were saying about it?"

The news had arrived as the Hogwarts Express had pulled into the station, full of excited students ready to experience another year of whatever Hogwarts had to throw at them, none expecting the reality of what would happen. The usual welcome speech was not to be, there were to be no joyful exclamation from their eccentric headmaster, but the hollow apologies as he called away a family, the Shacklebolts to be told the news.

Louie Shacklebolt, his wife Dana and their daughter Olivia, all murdered in their home. They left behind a daughter and a son, the son a seventh year Gryffindor – Malcolm Shacklebolt, the daughter a fourth year Ravenclaw – Tamsin Shacklebolt. They were Cams cousins, the family were quite close as her friends understood, they spent Christmas together, and much of summer… And now over half of them were dead. Murdered in their own home… The late evening news paper had reported on the death of Louie, Dana and Olivia. It was gruesome. There was apparently a meeting on the use of unforgivable curses to be called – whether the curse that killed Olivia should be added to the list – something called the entrails-expelling curse. A curse that literally ripped open and expelled the insides of the poor victim, few had ever managed to survive, if any. When Lily had read it, she'd felt bile rise in her throat, nearly vomiting into her own lap.

"I just… How can anyone do that to another person?" Lainey asked as she sat on the sofa, her face pale as she stared into the flames before them in the fire place.

"Hey, kids," Kate Potters voice suddenly broke through their clouded minds as they sat in a group on the sofa. "Alright girls, I think it's time you head up to your dorm, I know you want to wait for Cam, but she might not be back tonight, it's late and it's been a really long day."

Looking at the older girl, Lily saw weariness in her eyes. A darkness that belied tiredness. They were all affected, it occurred to Lily that Kate would have known Olivia, she'd have attended Hogwarts with her for at least six years. And now she was dead.

"I'm really sorry…" Lily whispered to Kate, struggling to find her voice, Kate blinked at Lily for a moment, before tears swam in her eyes, the dark haired girl tried to blink them away, but it only made the tears slip down her pale cheeks.

"Kate, come on lovely," A blonde girl who often was by Kates side said, wrapping her arms around Kates shoulders. "Let's go to the kitchens and get some hot chocolate. You lot do as Kate says, head up to the dorms."

With that the girls followed the instruction, disappearing up to their dorm room, silently.

They each sat on their respective beds, leaving Cams empty for whenever she returned, the silence stretching between them.

"It's all going to change now… You now that don't you…" Becs voiced whispered through the darkness that filled the room as the girls all crawled into their beds, trying as best as possible to continue on with their normal lives. "Now it's out there… What's happening isn't happening quietly anymore… It's out in the open. Nothing will be the same. Not the wizarding world, not us."

"It'll be ok…" Taliahs voice spoke into the darkness, though it was tainted by uncertainty.

"Maybe… But it won't be the same and I don't think it'll ever be ok… Not after this… How can it be?"


	16. Chapter 16

_Here's the truth for you… I'm scared… I'm petrified. I sit here and I feel as if my whole world, my whole being is being swallowed up by this darkness, by this force and there's nothing I can do to escape it. Even as I sit here and write this to you my hands shake, my body quivers, I constantly look over my shoulder to see who might be watching… _

_And yet I can't stop… I can't stop me, I can't stop it… I just sit here and let it all happen, silently screaming my protests inside and letting my hand flow over the parchment, quill in hand… and please god help me. _

_I don't know what to say to you… I want to tell you so much, but every time I have tried the words get lost in my throat and I feel as if I'm choking on everything unsaid, but there's no way of changing anything I just DO. I hate it, I love it, I need it… I don't know anything else… and then you just have to confuse everything and I hate you and I don't… _

_You couldn't just be simple could you, you couldn't just walk away and leave me be, you have to be so damned determined and stubborn. _

_I remember our stolen moments in the summer, when you took me flying… Those moments that were so peaceful… so content. _

_I don't ever want anything else, just you and me in our little bubble. And that's terrifying. How could I want you, how could I do that to myself? I know it can't end well, not for either of us… And yet I daydream about kissing you slowly in the meadow again, I thinking about the way your lips pressed against mine, no urgency, as if you were savouring the moment. _

_And I fall in love with that memory… I fall in love with you._

_I am in love you. And I'm terrified. _

_I love you Tom Potter… I love everything about you… _

_And I think one day it will kill us both a little inside when the bubble shatters and we finally accept that we can't afford to be in love… My hearts breaking right now. _

_And yet, right now, right in this moment, I love you. _

_Love me back while you can…_

_Narcissa_

* * *

"Mum says Emma has been a nightmare the last few days," Kate said as she across from her two younger brothers, Will and James at the Gryffindor table in the office. "But then, what did she expect? They say babies can sense when their parents are upset and stressed – with mum and dad being how they are recently, I'm surprised that she's not expecting this."

"Yeah, because you've raised five kids too, right?" Will replied shortly, earning him a surprised look from Kate – it was unlike Will to be sarcastic, that was usually reserved for herself or Tom… She looked down at her feet, suddenly feeling guilty that she'd been harsh about her mum.

"Alright, so I've not had kids, but this is unlike mum," Kate replied, trying to defend herself. "Usually she's got it covered, she knows when something is upsetting us before we even know it. It just strike me as bizarre that she hasn't got it covered."

"I don't think she was expecting this." James said as she pushed his food around his plate, not sure he wanted to be here, discussing the world outside of Hogwarts. "Plus, Dana was her friend."

"They're a cool family the Shacklebolts, loads of people liked them, but do you remember the times we visited? Olivia was the same age as Tom, same situation. He's with mum and dad, but they also have a baby, what would they do with Emma if they were attacked? It's a bit too close to home." Will continued, as Kate sighed, it was too close to home. They all knew it.

* * *

"I wasn't sure we would continue this now," Severus spoke, his voice quiet as he and Lily sat in the potions rooms, they'd been back at Hogwarts for a week now – the longest week either of them had ever known. During their first potions lesson their professor asked if they would still be happy to spend time together to work on potions – something both agreed to readily. "Not with me being a Slytherin…"

"What does that have to do with anything?" Lily asked him, sounding thoroughly surprised by his comment.

"I mean, most of the Slytherins that I know don't seem nearly even bothered by the stuff that happened last week… Y'know with the Shacklebolts." Severus explained. "I think a few of them kinda agree with _him_."

"Maybe you just know the wrong Slytherins…" Lily responded evenly. "What happened to that family was horrific. Not everyone in your house can possibly think it's ok… Or maybe they just don't want to say anything against the few idiots in your house. Maybe they're scared-"

"Scared!" Severus seemed to take offense to this, and Lily looked up at him, away from the book she had been stubbornly rereading since Severus had started this line of conversation.

"Yes, scared." Lily responded, though there was a softness in her voice. "You forget Severus, I've been on the receiving end of the dislike of people who _agree with him_, and they're horrible, terrible people. They scare me, and I don't even have to deal with them every day."

"I'm not scared—"

"Well good for you Severus," Lily cut him off briskly, not sure she wanted to continue this anymore. "Now can you find the horned slugs?"

* * *

"Quidditch try outs are next week, do you wanna sign up with us?" A boy's voice sounded, pausing the girls mindless chatter over the latest issue of Witch Weekly that Lainey had pulled out for them to pour over. The girls looked around to see James Potter stood by the chair, looking almost expectantly at the girls, as he awaited their answers. Of course this was his first chance to try out for the team, but it was apparently a popular option among the Gryffindors, the list had only gone up yesterday and by the time Lily had come back from her potions session with Severus it was already half full. "Cam, I know you do, what about you Lily?"

"Not for me thanks," Lily responded with a small smile and a slight shrug, she looked to Taliah who was the only one aside from herself and Cam who had shown interest in broom sports – but she shook her head. "Looks like it's on you Cam."

"I'm not sure I want to." Cam answered, sounding dejected as she did, Lily looked at her friend, whose dark eyes were focused on her hands in her lap.

"Cam, don't even try that," Lainey said, sounding shocked as she did so. "We all know you want to, no matter what you gotta do it! Cam, you'll be devastated if you don't make the team because you didn't try!"

"Why aren't you making Lily try out?" Cam responded, panic tainting voice as she did. "She's just as good as me, she would be great on a team!"

"I have other plans for Lily." Lainey stated simply while Lily looked to her friend with raised eyebrows. "Sh, this isn't about you right now Red."

"Cam," Bec continued, ignoring Laineys plotting. "Just sign up, if you don't sign up and decide on the day that you wanna give it a go, you've already missed your chance. It's just a pen to paper, you can do that, take it slow."

"I don't-"

"You do," Taliah interrupted, smiling at her friend as she did. "So do it."

"Yeah, Cam, come on, I'm signing up, so is Sirius and Dale, sign up with us," James insisted as Bec held a quill out to her friend. Cam looked at the quill, chewing on her lip for a second before tentatively raising her hand and grasping the feathered end in her fingers. "Come on, I bet you and me would make great Chasers, Sirius and Dale are going for Beater."

* * *

"Oh my GOD! Dale!" Lily shrieked as the group watched their friends complete try-outs. They'd just witnessed Dale take a bludger to the side, knocking him from his broom and down onto the rain soaked mud of the pitch. Lily was sat between Remus and Bed, her hands gripping tightly onto their arms. They waited for him to show signs of being ok, however their friend remain still on the ground, as the other trainee beaters descended around them, Asterix who had hit the bludger was first by his side.

"Come on kid," She could be heard yelling as she rolled Dale onto his back. "I think someone should get Madame Pomfrey, he's unconscious!"

Gideon Prewett, younger brother to Kates boyfriend Fabian, and new Gryffindor Quidditch captain, nodded his head, summoning a stretcher.

"That's try outs for today, I've seen enough of you all to know what's gonna happen, I'll post it on the board in the next few days!" Gideon yelled to the milling crowds, and with the help of the rest of the team moved Dale towards the castle.

"Asterix, there's no need to kill the opposition!" Kate sighed from behind the group of second years, Asterix had appeared on her broom looking unaffected however.

"I didn't kill him, did you see it though, kid had no fear, straight into it… Shame he forgot to use the bat in her hand and not his own body." Asterix commented as she set herself down in the stands, pulling the cap from her head and letting her blonde curls fall. "Credit to him, might not be the brightest move, but he blocked the ball, otherwise it was totally gonna take out Marlene. She should have been watching-"

"Or you could have tried not going for members of your own team," Will commented as he swooped down on the pair as they talked behind the group.

"Not on my team yet," Asterix replied with a shrug. "Anyway, they're not my team mates, they're my competition." Spotting the second years looking at her incredulously Asterix rolled her blue yes. "He'll survive, and when I do that against Slytherin, you'll be relieved."

"_If _you make the team Asterix." Kate reminded her.

"_If_" Asterix scoffed. "Did you see me, I got that position. Sure, maybe the Black kid and the boy with the broken ribs will make reserve, but I owned that position, they need a couple of years training yet."

"You're so arrogant." Will grumbled as she got back on his broom.

"Rightly confident," Asterix countered a smug smile on her face. "And you know it Potter."

* * *

Routine, life was so much more routine now, as Lily settled into her life at Hogwarts. No longer was everything a new and exciting experience, it was the norm. Worryingly this was happening across the board – including the almost monthly reports of a group of people terrorising various people, all relating to blood purity, the students all took it in their stride, there was a underlying worry in them all, but there had been no serious attacks since the one that had killed the Shacklebolts, and before that the Bones'. It was a rare occurrence, though unsettling, and for the most part, they were all proving to be safe. So they all continued on with life, ignoring the unsettledness that eased over them all.

But small things were changing and developing, James, Sirius, Cam and Dale had all been picked up as reserves for the Gryffindor quidditch team, they trained on a Tuesday evening and a Sunday morning. The Boys were becoming more reckless – often landing themselves in detention for silly pranks, most of which was amusing the other residents of Hogwarts, but Lily found them to be quite annoying, it had been funny at first, when it was small things, but they'd rigged the library books to explode out a puff of black ink when opened – it had taken the redhead hours to wash the blank ink from her locks and she got in trouble with the Librarian for ruining school property. And then there was Lainey, who had gotten a crazy idea stuck on her head.

"Come on Lily, Hogwarts haven't entered a candidate in years, I bet if you trained you'd be able to enter," Lainey continued on as the second years walked towards their History of Magic lesson – or scheduled nap session for most of the students. "I mean, it would be amazing, a bit of training and you'll be the best! Ok, so you can't actually enter until you're a fifth year, but, could you imagine how cool it would be?"

"I think you're being crazy." Lily replied evening, raising a single eyebrow at her friend.

"I dunno, it sounds kinda cool," Remus added as he walked along Lily, the redhead gave him an incredulous look. "You get to go abroad, and compete, and you get extra credit points for participation in a sport…"

"I don't need extra credit." Lily pointed out stubbornly.

"No," Taliah agreed. "But, it'll look good when you apply for jobs after Hogwarts, we all know you want to be prefect and Head Girl, top marks for all your classes, extra-curricular activities are just a total bonus."

"But broom racing?" Lily asked, sounding uncertain.

"The Annual Broom Race has hundreds of thousands of spectators," Sirius chimed in, pushing back his mass of black hair as he did, grinning at a first year who was staring at him. "It's held in Sweden, my parents go every year… They still hold the school one y'know, I dunno why we haven't entered a competitor in so long, I mean it's bigger over in Europe, but still… Do you really think Red could compete Lainey?"

"People on brooms professionally is what I've grown up around," Lainey responded, a definite 'duh' in her tone. "Of course, I can spot this stuff."

"She can spot this stuff, Black, don't ya know." Bec teased, making Sirius laugh as Lainey stuck her tongue out at her blonde friend. Sirius wrapped Lainey into a loose headlock, giving her a noogie as she squealed.

"It's all in this noggin of hers!" Sirius howled as Lainey pushed away from him, looking thoroughly ruffled as she tried to straighten out her now ruined hair. He grinned at Lainey as the others giggled, ignoring her huffing. "Go on Red, how cool would it be, you'd get out of classes, still get extra credit, and the professors wouldn't even bother saying no, because _everyone_ knows you'd still do all your homework, and probably still be the best in the class of _absolutely everything_." He raised an eyebrow at the reddening Lily. "To be honest, I think this is the only way of making you at least a little bit cool."

"Lily's cool," Taliah interjected. "Just because you're a moron who doesn't want to study, doesn't mean you're cool and Lily isn't." She mock glared at Sirius who still held a smug grin on his face. "And that's going to be even more true when McGonagall finds out that you rigged the toilets to explode in the Slytherin Dungeons, and you're in detention for a month. Lily being smart is quite literally the only reason Gryffindor isn't completely out the running of the house cup – you lot keep losing us points!"

"But it's cool!" Peter squeaked, looking aghast at what Taliah was suggesting – them, losing their beloved house points, and that they weren't the coolest boys in the school – Peter knew that his friends were.

"So is winning the house cup, and actually having free time," Taliah replied in a teasing sing-song voice, turning on her heel and linking arms with Lily's. "But hey ho, each to their own."

* * *

"Mum, I'm going to Diagon Alley for a couple of hours, do you want me to bring Emma?" Toms voice called into the kitchen, before his head appeared around the doorway.

It had for all intents and purposes been a long day for Cora, who was sat at the kitchen table, staring at the patterns in the solid wood. She was exhausted. Emma had been fussing all night, even when she wasn't fussing, Cora could not sleep, it had been like that for a while now, she was at her limits. And she looked it. There were bags beneath her eyes, her usually smooth hair was frizzy, her skin had taken on a greyish tone.

"Please, just for a couple of hours." Cora nodded, as Tom moved forward, taking Emma into his arms, she gurgled happily and Tom saw his mum smile a small loving smile in there direction, her eyes catching his as she mouthed the words "thank you" before disappearing out of the kitchen as Tom looked at the grinning baby girl.

"looks like it's me and you, kid."

* * *

"Oh, look at her, she's adorable!" Madeline coo'd as she knelt before the pushchair that Tom had brought with him, holding Emma. "I can't believe how big she's gotten!"

"I can't believe how big you've gotten, Miss McKinnon," Tom teased as she looked up at him through big brown eyes, through a mint green fringe – gone was the bubblegum pink, that being said she pulled off the mint green in some sort of old fashioned vintage up do Tom had never seen before – it was all very Madeline. "Working as secretary to the Deputy Head of International Magical Co-Operation. How in hell did you manage to get that job? Mum says it was highly sought after."

"By studying my arse off and not letting bone heads like you distract me, I heard Graces' marks went up when she broke up with you-"

"Can I say there was a bit more to it then that-"

"Possibly. But you're still a bonehead. How's Auror training going?"

"Well," Tom drawled as he took a seat at the table, pulling Emmas push chair close as Madeline sat across from him. He had always been able to rely on Madeline, as a friend, they'd tried the dating thing it hadn't been bad but it hadn't been right either. Now she was one of his main confidents. "My dad is a nightmare to work for, like he's overseeing all of the new recruits, he's only gone and paired me with Mad-Eye Mooney. That guy got the name for reason."

"Well, he's probably looking to show that he's not showing favouritism," Madeline reasoned as she took Emma from the pushchair and sat her on her lap. "I mean, you are his first born and eldest, he is the Head of Aurors, I mean, he can't look like he wants you to succeed over the other candidates, only five people were selected to enter Auror training this year. I hear Emmeline Vance was accepted, the only female selected this year."

"Yeah, she is," Tom confirmed, nodding and calling over a waitress for their orders. "She's good too. Like she's smart, but she's willing to get dirty."

"Really," Madeline noted, smiling to herself as she did. "She's really great, is Emmeline-"

"She actually prefers to be called Emmie-"

"Emmie- Hi, yes two teas please," Madeline ordered from the waitress, quickly dismissing her, clearly something was far more interesting. "So, you like Emmie?"

"Yeah, she's fine, me and the other lads were gonna go for drinks after work, she can hold her own," Tom admitted, he did like Emmie, in an odd way she reminded him of the women in his family, strong willed and stubborn. "And she's funny, my dad is paired with her through training, I think he thought she might be a bit of an underdog, y'know with all the guys in the Aurors department, and they do give her a bit of stick, but she holds her own."

"Oh really," Madeline was very interested now, both she and Emma had fixed their eyes on Tom, which he noticed, frowning at the pair. "So, Emmie… Have you asked her on a date?"

Tom spluttered and coughed, uncertain how to answer this question, he hadn't even thought of Emmie that way – as a potential date, but that was probably in large part to another woman in his life, the one he would write letters to each week, the one that only recently he had told he loved… And that no one else even knew was in his life.

"Madeline…" Tom started awkwardly, he didn't know how to say the words exactly, he'd never really kept anything secret, but he had done this, to save Narcissa, until he could protect her properly. "I've met someone."

"Oh." The surprise was evident in her face and tone, she'd had no idea, and why would she? But she was clearly very interested. "Well, tell me!"

"I'm in love with her Madeline…"

"Well don't stop there, who is it?" Madeline demanded, her whole body leaning towards Tom as she held baby Emma in her arms, who was contentedly chewing on a few stray strands of her hair.

"It's Narcissa… Narcissa Black."

"Oh Tom…" Her response was not what Tom expected as he searched his friends face, looking for some sort of answer, what he saw was fear. Her eyes looked from him to the baby in her arms, holding her close, her head shaking slightly. "What have you done?"


	17. Chapter 17

"Did you see it? Did you? How cool was that?!" Peter squealed as he fell into the common room, after three of his friends, his cheeks reddened and panting for breath. His blue eyes were wide with excitement as he fell into a pile on the floor, a grin plastered across his face. "Did you see their faces! They were horrified!"

"So would you be!" Sirius laughed as he clapped James on the back, looking decidedly proud of him. "And Remus, the credit to awesome potion making must go to you, but James, James, James… the idea was brilliant! Did you see Snivelly? I didn't think his greasy mop could get worse, but it did!"

"A hair growth potion that strong will have some pretty awesome results!" James declared proudly as he looked around the room, taking in all the amused looks that they received.

"POTTER! BLACK! LUPIN! PETTIGREW!" A voice suddenly screeched as the door behind them flew open, and a tall woman stood in the doorway, her hands were on her hips, her lips pursed as her eyes looked at them with clear irritation. "Did you really think you would get away with it? The house elves immediately informed Headmaster Dumbledore that you four had gone into the kitchen and pour something into the juice for the Slytherin table!"

"Just can't bribe house elves these days." Sirius said solemnly shaking his head, causing James to snort with laughter.

"Detention for all four of you for a month!" McGonagall told the four boys who were looking at each through the corner of their eyes, failing to hide the grins that were plastered across their faces. "You four should be ashamed of yourselves, and I expect the students in my House to put their intelligence to better use then silly pranks."

* * *

"Kate, I thought you were watching them?" Harry sighed as he spoke to his daughter through the floo system, it was late evening and Cora was already asleep, exhausted as she was. Everyone was working themselves hard, what they didn't need was James causing a nuiscence at Hogwarts, he knew in his heart, he didn't really mean anything mean by it, but with his little gang of friends it was so easy for him to get swept up in the idea and before they even saw any consequences to their actions it had already happened. And he knew that he shouldn't put the responsibility of watching his youngest son on his eldest daughter, given there were members of staff responsible for the kids at Hogwarts – but he remember back to his days and how easy it was to get away with things unheeded. "I really thought James knew better."

"He does," Kate stated firmly, she had been none too pleased as Head Girl when she had been informed that the one who caused the ruckus this morning had in fact been her youngest brother. "It's just everything is so up in the air at the moment, I think he's not engaging his brain." She paused before saying any more, uncertain how her father would take this information. "I think Sirius Black is the problem… I mean, he's not a bad kid, but he's got this stuff-"

"Stuff?"

"Yeah, stuff… There's this whole thing about him and his family, who are of course _all_ Slytherin and it just seems as if they've all been grouped together in their heads as the bad ones," Kate explained, she paused, looking thoughtful in the flames as she spoke to her father. "Sirius has a younger brother, he's new, he's a Slytherin and I think it's just really settled into the whole them versus us. I dunno…"

"Kate, it's really important you talk to James, it isn't a them versus us… It's a complicated issue… People really do only strive for what they think will benefit them, and for that we cannot blame them."

* * *

"Are you ok?" The female voice said softly as she stepped into the small alcove in the library, a quiet spot away from other students, where a boy with shoulder length black hair sat with a potions book in his lap, flipping through the pages furiously. "Severus?"

"What do you think?" The boy hissed, not taking his eyes from the before that sat in his lap. He sniffled, giving away that he had been crying.

"I'm really sorry, you didn't deserve that, no one does." Her voice said softly as she stepped towards the boy, pushing back a strand of ruby hair.

"Well your friends seem to think so."

And she wanted to say no, that she friends didn't think so at all, but would she consider James, Sirius, Peter and Remus her friends? She spent time with them, she liked Remus particularly, but would she consider them friends? Really? Yes, probably she would. As for the girls, none of them had seemed outraged as she had about what had happened, none of them saw it as a cruelty that no one deserved. Maybe they didn't actively partake in what had happened, but they didn't condone it either. Had she? Sure, she'd come to check on Severus, but when it had happened, had she defended the Slytherins who had been so cruelly treated? Was she any better?

"Maybe. But we're not defined by the people around us, or we don't have to be… And I don't think you deserved that," She said as she sat down beside the boy on the cold, hard stone floor. She reached out, taking one of his hands in her own. "I'm really sorry, I'm glad to see you're back to normal now though…"

"Do you not like the long haired look?" Severus huffed, like he was perhaps trying to make a joke, but it was still far too raw for him to manage amusement. Still, the girl smiled.

"It doesn't matter if I do or don't… Do you like the long haired look?"

"I dunno," He admitted, sure, his hair had always been longer then the other boys his age – but he'd not been prepared for the floor length surprise this morning, along with all his housemates. "You should probably go, don't wanna be seen with me." Severus said as he pulled his hand from his redheaded friends.

"Maybe I don't mind being seen with you," She responded, relaxing back against the wall and settling down. "Are you ok being seen with me?"

"Yeah," He said softly. "I am."

* * *

"So it was that easy?" Dale asked as he sat with the boys in his year, James, Sirius, Remus and Peter. He'd had nothing to do with their pranks, it hadn't really appealed to him, though he was surprised at how easily they pulled it off.

"Yeah, just tell them that Peter was starving and they didn't even look twice at the juice," Sirius laughed flippantly. The girls that were also with them listened in with amusement, it had been the first big prank, and it had been a funny show, seeing the Slytherins suddenly turned into hairy monsters – a bit like a bunch of bears. "Ease peasy."

"So easy you even managed to get your little brother," A sharp voice stated, causing the group to look towards the entrance where Lily stood, her hands on her hips. "How kind of you, not to mention the other traumatised first years."

"Oh, they've all recovered now," James replied easily, sniggering slightly with Sirius as he did so. "No actual harm done."

"Except to the feelings of the people you four really embarrassed. And all because you were bored?" Lily asked, clearly angry with them, Sirius and James paid her no heed however, Remus however looked uncomfortable. "I'd expect some of you to have a little more heart – not everyone wants to be seen as a beast, which is exactly what you did to them!"

"Some of them are beasts!"

"And so are you!" Lily retorted to Sirius who had pitifully attempted to defend their actions. "What isn't beastly about people who would treat someone else so cruelly? What have any of them done to you to deserve that? Even if someone had done something, that doesn't earn them the right to be bullied-"

"I think that's a little harsh Lily-"

"Do you Lainey?" Lily snapped irritably. "Because what else do you call publically humiliating a group of people, just because you can?"

"Lily-"

"It was, just _so funny_!" Lily snarled. "Oh ha ha ha! Why don't we just pick on them all over again? Why don't we just pick on them because they're different _all the time_?!"

"Hey, Red!" Sirius suddenly yelled back, clearly frustrated that she didn't get their prank. "Those are the people who hurt you just last year!"

"No." Lily scoffed, her cheeks reddening, before she took a deep breath and steadied herself. "The people who hurt me last year are all gone now, all you've done is make sure that the hate and fear that got me into that situation last year is well and truly alive. You've drawn battle lines. You've made everything much worse, because not everyone hates me because I'm a mudblood, but they do hate me because I'm a Gryffindor now, because I'm in your year, because Gryffindor are clearly _mean_ people who do nasty things to them… You've just made everything so much worse. And I don't want anything to do with it."

* * *

"I don't think she's wrong…" Taliah whispered in the darkness as the girls sat together on her bed, Lily hadn't spoken to them when they came up to the dorm room, but stayed in her bed, curtains drawn. In truth, at the time, Taliah had thought the prank was hilarious, like most other students. And then she remembered things her parents had said to her, keep your head down, don't create enemies. She remembered be even younger and her mum always telling her to treat others how she would want to be treated – she certainly wouldn't want to be the one pranked. "I think she's a little too angry, but I don't think she's wrong."

"It was a massive over reaction-"

"But was it?" Bec cut across Lainey, looking down at the hands in her lap. "Olive Gorner was crying in the girls toilets after dinner, after someone made a comment about the hair…"

"She was crying?" Cam asked, sounding guilty as she did. "I didn't really think…"

"I think that's part the problem…" Taliah sighed, pushing back her dark locks as she sat there with her friends. "No one thought… We'll talk to Lily tomorrow… She'll calm down a little and we'll sort things out."

_If only things could be so simple._

* * *

"Well now that's over," Bec sighed as she flopped down on the seat, she looked to Lainey, a grin slowly spreading across her face before she erupted into giggled. "I knew she was stubborn, but really? That girl can hold a grudge."

"Yes she can!" Lainey laughed, letting out a breath and shaking her head, Taliah soon followed with Cam, both collapsing into their seats, looking restless, before finally they were followed by a red faced redhead, arms crossed over, looking every inch pissed off.

"I can't believe it, I just really can't."

"Lily, I think maybe next time, you should just… Expect it…" Taliah told her before laughing. "I won't bother to ask you to turn a blind eye, just don't look so hilariously shocked when one of them does something you disapprove of."

"I just…" Lily paused, musing before she continued. "Dale doesn't feel the need to go around harassing people, and Remus only sometimes gets really involved in their stupidness."

"So? James and Sirius will forever be James and Sirius," Cam responded as she reached into her bag and pulled out a quidditch magazine. "Can't expect that to change, you will forever be Lily, as they will forever be them. Just try not to lose your cool every time… I mean, there's only so much yelling one girl can do before she loses her voice." Cam paused, grinned as she quickly looked to the other girls before innocently blinking towards Lily. "Or perhaps you should continue to yell?"

Sticking her tongue out at her friend, Lily took the seat beside Lainey. They were in the compartment of the Hogwarts express as their second year drew to a close. The year had sped past then in the blink of an eye, so much had changed so quickly. Forgiveness had not be granted to James and Sirius, though Lily was much more forgiving of Remus and Peter, in many ways it had solidified James' and Sirius' friendship, and Lily's frustration at their behaviour. As for the girls, nothing had really changed for them, aside for occasionally having to shield James and Sirius from the wrath of Lily.

They were bobbing along, developing, more so then when they were frightened kids of this whole new world they were all entering, they were each becoming their own little person, that did not necessarily mean growing together.

* * *

"You don't have to do this, you don't have to be that person," Her voice was a rushed whisper as they looked around, to make sure that they were not being watched or listened to. She pulled her cloak tighter around her body, an vain attempt to keep herself safe, though she knew in that moment she wasn't at great risk. "I promise you that there's more out there for you, please don't do this."

"There is nothing more out there for me… I thought that maybe there was, but look at you, just look at you!" The other woman hissed back in response, her eyes too glancing around to check for anyone who may be paying them too much attention, though in one of the alleyways of Knockturn Alley they should have been safe enough. "You've been burnt off the family tree, where your face once was, is nothing more than a scorch mark."

"So what? They aren't my family, Ted is my family, he'll forever be there for me, no matter what, he'll protect and provide for me, he's all that matters, can you say _he'll_ do the same for you?" The other woman hissed back, the way she said 'he'll' hosting a venom – she did not approve that much was clear. "He'll provide maybe, but only as long as you give up anything about you that makes you you! Can you do that? Be a puppet to him, the perfect little wife?"

"I don't have another option Andromeda!" The younger woman hissed furiously, there were tears in her eyes, she was tortured by this. "I can't do what you did, I thought I could I wanted to so much! But I can't! I don't have what you have inside that makes you do the things you do… Not even my Ted could protect me, not now."

"Narcissa, please, there's someone, I'm sure there are ways-"

"There is no way!" Narcissa hissed, she swiped at her eyes which had teared up, she knew there was no other way. She'd returned home last night to find her sisters room torn to pieces, her aunt screaming profanities, a threat over her head, and worse. "Andromeda, don't let them find you, don't get close, don't come back… I wish I could do what you are doing, but how they are now-"

"Narcissa, it's not so bad-"

"They'll kill the child." Silences stretched between the two sisters after the words tumbled from Narcissa's mouth before she could stop them. Hesitantly she reached forward, pressing her hand to the small bump forming in her sisters stomach, she felt the warmth of happiness for a moment and the cold snap of fear instantly. And this was why she couldn't do it, she couldn't risk it. She could not live a life knowing that her family would so vehemently desire to kill her child, it was not enough that they had disowned Andromeda, but to _desire_ to kill the child that 'tainted' the Black line… Narcissa could not live that life. "Never come back, never be where you suspect they may be, and always watch your back when you're alone… Andi… I'm so very sorry, I really am… But I cannot risk it. I wish that you could be there, I do, but I can't invite you, I can't have anything to do with you, it's forbidden. But I had to let you know, it's the only reason I agreed to meet, you had to know." Narcissa told her sister, there was a pleading in her eyes, she was begging for forgiveness, though for what she didn't really know. "You were never going to be able to convince me that this wasn't the right thing for me to do, but I had to let you know, to give you the chance to do the best thing for your family… Keep safe sister, however you best can; for me, that's marrying Lucius."


	18. Chapter 18

"Get a room already!" A teenage boy groaned as he sat at the breakfast bar of his family home, a half-eaten bowl of cereal before him which he ducked his face into, mock gagging as a couple stood at the other side of the breakfast bar, kissing. "Merlin, seriously! Some of us are trying to eat, and actual food, not each other's faces!"

Laughing the man turned to the boy, they looked very similar, with only age showing their differences, though it was not much, the man was no more than later twenties.

"You'll meet a girl one day James, and you'll want to eat her face too," The man said, unwrapping his arms from the waist of the slim woman he had been holding onto, the man was tall, just over six foot, with jet hair and a strong jaw, he was built with broad shoulders and muscles that evidenced that he spent some time in the gym. "Mind you, with that mess of hair, maybe you won't."

"I don't want to meet a girl," James protested through a mouthful of cereal, making the woman laugh, she was around the same age as the man, though much shorter, with thick chocolate hair pulled back into a ponytail, except the thick cut fringe that just about fell in her eyes. She was very pretty with Elven features and a slim build, both of them were dressed in work out gear, and were looking slightly sweaty – the teenager assumed from the morning run the pair insisted upon, to keep fit. They'd tried getting him to join them all summer, but he'd not been particularly interested in hanging out with his brother and sister-in-law at 8am running around the streets, not when he could be having a lie in. "I just want to win the quidditch cup and make the Marauders make Hogwarts History."

"Now, that's not a bad attitude to have," The woman said, glancing at the man through the corner of her eye. "At least you unlike Tom won't get desperately distracted, however, if you and you're friends – the so called Marauders continue on, you'll end up in detention so often you won't have time to make trouble."

"I did not get distracted! I was quidditch captain, prefect and Head Boy!" Tom protested, looking highly affronted.

"By the skin of your teeth Potter!" The woman laughed, winking at him as she did.

"Say that again Potter and I'll have to show you a thing or two," Tom respond, snaking his arms around the woman's waist as James audibly gagged.

"Dude! Trying to eat breakfast!" James exclaimed, pushing his bowl away from him, thoroughly grossed out. The last thing he wanted to see first thing in the morning was his oldest brother getting it on with his wife, as shown by the glittering band on her wedding finger.

"Aw, poor James, the blissful couple torturing you?" A female voice asked as a young woman appeared in the doorway, grinning as she looked at James. "Oh to be fifteen again."

"Just make them stop." James begged, pointing accusingly at the entangled pair.

"Sorry, they've been married less than six months," The young woman said with a shrug. "I think it's kinda written in law that they're going to be all coupley."

"Well they could at least do it somewhere else," James grumbled as he pushed himself to his feet, sliding past the young woman. "And next it'll be you and Fabian. It only gets better." He trudged past his laughing siblings, it wasn't that he wasn't happy for them, it's just that he didn't want to see them like that. For a while things had gotten weird for Tom, after his second year, Tom went very suddenly from happy to really depressed, no one really knew why then and they still didn't. Towards the end of his third year, Tom started dating a woman called Emmeline, James knew her a bit from Hogwarts, and as the Auror that his dad was training, within six months they were engaged, they got married at the end of James' fourth year, which was an excruciating experience as they had made James wear a tux and his mum had spent hours fussing over his hair. It was his first day back to Hogwarts now, to begin his first year, it would be a relief to be out the house. Tom and Emmeline had moved out to their own place, but a month before their wedding Kate had gotten engaged to Fabian Prewettt – as Kate wasn't going to move out until after her wedding, it meant Fabian was around all the time. Every day was like show of the couples. As if to add insult, Will had been with his girlfriend Marlene for ages now too, they were getting serious. This for some reason meant their mother had taken an active interest in his 'love life', the others were all paired off, so of course he was the only one she could meddle with. Emma was still too young, only just four years old.

"James!" His mothers voice suddenly called, he half wondered if he should answer her, before grudgingly giving in.

"Yeah?"

"Is your trunk packed? We leave in half an hour!"

* * *

Going to Hogwarts was no less a family affair then when he was eleven years old, so it would appear, Cora Potter had pulled the family together to send off, she stood, clutching the hand of four year old Emma, a hold so tight that Cora's knuckles turned white. Tom was stood, his arm around the shoulders of Emmeline, he placed a quick kiss to the top of her head. Will was there, his hands buried into his suit pocket, grinning towards his girlfriend, a short young woman with a round face and slightly upturned nose, she was in his seventh year now, the Gryffindor Prefect. Kate was there also, her fiancé beside her looking harassed.

"Don't get me wrong, I love my sister, but that woman is popping out kids at a rate that is inhuman," Fabian groaned as Kate laughed at him. "Twenty six and she's married with two kids, I mean, Arthur, he's great with Bill and Charlie, but at some point those two have got to take a break."

"She wants a big family," Kate laughed, tapping him on the arm, as James rolled his eyes at their chatter, Fabian as well as having a younger brother, also had an older sister, a woman called Molly. James knew a lot about her, because Kate kept bringing up babies. "Neither Molly or Arthur had sisters, and I know Molly wants a little girl, I can get that."

"Ignore them," Harold chuckled, looking at his son, resting a hand on his shoulder. "And ignore your mother, though don't tell her I said that. Go to Hogwarts this year and enjoy yourself James," Harold told his son, James looked his dad in the eye, seeing kindness there, as almost ever present in those deep hazel eyes. "Don't let your brothers and sister bug you down with their adult stuff, you're only young once kid, you better enjoy it."

"Thanks dad," James said with a grin, there was a twinkle in his fathers eye – mischief. Unlike James' mother, his father found his antics amusing. "I'll see you at Christmas, yeah?"

"Of course you will!"

* * *

"James! Mate!" Sirius' booming voice yelled from within a compartment, instantly catching the fifteen year olds attention. He turned and looked into the compartment, surprised at what he found. Inside, were four boys and five girls, he recognised them all, having spent the past four years with them at Hogwarts. "Come on, we even made Evans promise not to bite your head off." Flicking his eyes to the 'Evans' in question, he saw the girl, a shock of bright red hair, which was pulled back scruffily into a ponytail, revealing pale skin and a freckled covered nose, she did not look at him, instead choosing to keep her eyes firmly focused on the book that sat in her hands, carefully flicking through the pages and not actually reading any of it. "Sit back and relax, we're going back to Hogwarts."

The journey itself was uneventful, James had already known that Remus had received the Prefect badge, while unsurprisingly it was Evans who had it for the female position. James felt bad for Remus then, it would surely be a nightmare working with someone as uptight as Lily Evans. However, there was a new an interesting turn of events.

"Do you want anything?" Dale asked as he reached into his pocket as the trolley lady paused by their compartment, looking to Evans with a smile on his face, she smile back, a soft smile as her cheeks reddened.

"No thank you," She said quietly, ducking her head slightly as Dale moved from the seat beside Lily towards the trolley, waiting patiently as Sirius trundled through his list of desired items. James spotted the other girls in the compartment all share a look, one he could not quite place, though they were all smiling so it could not have been a bad thing. As he returned, Lily looked up at him. "You're sweet y'know."

"Only to the people I really like," Dale responded quickly, he'd grown a lot since James last saw him, he was easily the tallest of them all, with broad shoulders, his once light blonde hair had darkened slightly but was still blonde. "So to you yeah."

James nearly gagged, he thought that he'd escaped this when he returned to Hogwarts, apparently there was to be no such luck. He saw as Dale reached his hand out, taking one of Lily's in his own.

"When did that happen?" Sirius suddenly exclaimed, pointing at the pair who were now holdings hands. He looked highly affronted to have not been privy to this knowledge beforehand.

"That would be none of your business Black." Evans replied, though she did not bother to look at Sirius, instead, she smiled at Dale. For his part, Dale looked to Sirius and shrugged, clearly unbothered about revealing that bit of information himself.

"What?" Sirius demanded. "How can it be none of my business that one of my dorm mates is dating the school priss?"

"Sirius!" Lainey hissed, glaring at the young man opposite her. "It's none of your business what any of us do, unless we choose to tell you, and you know what, you're a dick but we don't go around making that our business either."

"Hey!" Sirius gasped, looking highly offended, but Lainey simply stared right back at his shocked expression, raising a single eyebrow as she did so. "I'm not a dick-"

"You kinda are," Taliah interjected, as she flipped through an issue of witch weekly. "You're not the only one who likes a bit of gossip Black, but I can assure you that you are definitely the root cause of almost half of it. Right before we left last year, didn't you snog Giovanna Aubrey and then ditch her? And her friend Melissa Stebbins."

"I cannot confirm or deny anything," Sirius replied with a shrug as he settled back in his seat, playing it cool while the attention was focused on him. "Nosey gits."

Raising a single eyebrow, Taliah smirked at Sirius response, before turning her body towards Lily.

"So, you're on course to take part in the annual broom race this year," Taliah stated, knowing well enough after years of training that Lily was more than ready to take part in the broom race. It had been Laineys idea several years back but Lily had taken to it, she'd trained with Madame Hooch, a new professor at Hogwarts who usually refereed the quidditch games, now she spent her a good portion of her free time practising. "When are the trials?"

"Just before Christmas, the trials are hosted in Portugal, by Beauxbatons and the Braga Broomfleet," Lily told Taliah, a small smile spreading across her lips as she did so. It was be a lie to say she wasn't massively excited, all eleven schools were taking part this year, originally the Brazilian school wasn't going to, but when they heard Hogwarts was putting in a candidate apparently they decided they couldn't be the only ones not competing. "Then the actual race is in Canada. I really can't wait, I'll get a week off to attend after exams, Madame Hooch is coming with me."

"Can we go and watch?" Bec asked excitedly, Lily grinned at her.

"I dunno, but I'll definitely ask," She assured her blonde friend. "I think it's a big thing, y'know, all the other schools have several competitors, at the moment, it's me, I mean, Alex Walker, he's training to possibly compete, but as you have to be at least fifteen he's got a couple of years before he can take part." Alex was a third year who Lily had been training alongside with Madame Hooch, he was fast, really fast, but he'd only started training last year and wasn't yet old enough to take part in the race. "Alex has been told he can come, witness it and adjust, so we'll see if we can make a proper trip of it."

"That would be so awesome!" Cam declared, grinning manically as she did, there was a glint in her eyes, and Lily half wondered what she was plotting. "We'd all get to stay in a hotel or something together, I bet. There's no school in Canada."

"I guess…"

"So we could have like a massive sleepover!"

"You could, I'll need to get my rest in before the race," Lily laughed, as she looked to Dale through the corner of her eye, he was grinning to himself as the girls talked. It had been funny in a way how this had happened, it was her broom racing which brought them closer. He had been working on extra quidditch practice last year all spring and summer term, sometimes he would be practicing when Lily herself would be out at the quidditch pitch practicing. Eventually they started working together.

"_Alright, Lily," Dale called across to Lily as she perched on her broom looking towards the goals, where Dale was sat looking at her expectantly. "Do you think you could make this one a little harder for me?" _

"_A little harder?" Lily laughed as she tossed the quaffle form hand to hand, she done a few fast runs while throwing the quaffle, she wasn't the best aim, but her quick moves had worked well to confuse Dale enough that she could just about mange a half decent shot. "What do you think I am, an actual chaser, give me a break!" _

"_Come on, I know you can do it!" Dale called, sounding assumed as he sat up and looked at Lily, there was an arrogance written across his face as he did, he quirked his eyebrow slightly and Lily knew he was challenging her. And it wasn't a challenge she was about to pass up. _

_Determination ran through her, her face set, she thought through her process, before suddenly making her move, she darted forward so fast it could have easily been missed in the blink of an eye. The wind rushed past her, causing her ruby locks to be swept back in the wind, the coolness hitting her face, she could feel the speed, the rush of excite, her grip tightened on her broom in the one hand and the quaffle in the other. Dale and the goals were getting closer and closer and suddenly before was before her, his eyes wide expecting her to crash, enough so he froze on the spot, and as he remain frozen as she skidding to sudden halt a mere few millimetres before him, she took the quaffle and casually threw it over his shoulder. _

"_Point to Evans," Lily said quietly, grinning with her nose no more than two centimetres from Dales. "Score." _

_She was grinning, her hair brushing past her face in the light breeze as they sat high in the sky. She blinked, her emerald eyes looking into Dales own turquoise eyes, she faltered for a second, before she felt a pull on her jumper and her face being drawn even closer to Dales and suddenly his lips were on hers and her eyes had fluttered close. This was her first kiss, on a broom in the quidditch pitch with Dale Thornberry of all people, but there was no inclination that she might suddenly pull away. _

_After a moment it was Dale who pulled back, blinking at Lily as his cheeks reddened, he opened his mouth as if to say something, before closing it again. Lily's own cheeks were warm too, she looked down at the hand still clasped on the handle of her broom. _

"_Sorry, I just…" Dales voice sounded and she looked up at him. "You looked really pretty and I had been thinking it wouldn't be a bad thing to kiss you for a few weeks now…" _

"_It wasn't a bad thing…" Lily said slowly, her voice soft as she did. "I think maybe we should do it again…" _

_So they did, several times over. _

It had been Lily who hadn't wanted to say anything at first, not to their friends, eventually of course the girls found out – rather Lainey who was the nosiest of them all found out and promptly told the other girls, though they agreed not to say anything to the boys, and Dale was happy enough with that.

Now however, whatever had made Lily so cautious not tell people was gone. No longer was she nervous about what they thought. She looked at Dale and smiled, he squeezed her hand and smiled back at her.

* * *

"I know we've got our O. this year, but I didn't really think they'd get so full on so quick!" Taliah groaned as she flopped down on the sofa, her dark locks falling into her face as she did so, she attempted to blow it out of her face, succeeding in only lifting it to a moment before it feel once more into her eyes. With great effort she reached up and pushed it out her face with her hand, looking to her friends imploringly. "How can they possibly expect us to cope?" Her eyes flicked to Lily, a wicked grin spreading across her face. "We can't _all_ be Lily."

"Thank merlin for that," Sirius drawled as he appeared behind the group, making Lily and Bec jump as he did, he slipped past them and sprawled out on the other end of the sofa that Taliah had flopped down upon, he looked to the Hispanic beauty, wiggling his eyebrows. "Fancy a private study session, Tali?"

"Definitely not," Taliah replied, a grin spread across her face as she answered. "You really don't hold much interest for me, Black."

"Don't tell him that," James whined suddenly, looking crestfallen as he did. "He'll end up spending forever in the bathroom this evening now."

Leaping from his position on the sofa, Sirius bulldozed through the group, until he reached James, immediately pulling him into a headlock, furiously running his knuckles over his best friends head yelling "noogie!" as James yelled out, his glasses falling to the floor and almost being stepped on, Remus quickly reached down and grasped them before they met an untimely end. The pair tumbled to the floor as the girls leapt out of the way, Lainey fell into Remus, who dropped James' glasses, which did in fact meet an untimely end as the lenses cracked and an arm bent outright. Bec, however, had fallen into the coffee table in front of the sofa, her knees bent, but as she rolled off it, she fell into the fireplace, against the fireguard.

Black iron fell down on Becs small frame with an alarming thud and crunch as the blonde girl screamed out in clear agony.

A tall boy rushed forward, pushing the fireguard back and pulling Bec forward away from the flames. Looking towards the group, he spotted Dale and yelled at him to get Madame Pomfrey, which Dale did immediately. Shoving the coffee table out of the way, the boy laid Bec down on the wood floor, glaring in the direction of Sirius and James.

"When you two piss about, You really do forget to think that there could be anyone around that might get hurt," The boy growled, as both Sirius and James looked shocked at this turn of events, it had really been an accident, they were just messing around with each – they'd not meant for anyone to get hurt, in fact, the idea that someone might had not even passed through their minds. "Let me look at you," The boy said, looking at the arm that Bec held limply at her side, it was at a weird angle, she'd clearly done something to it. "I think it's dislocated, possibly broken."

"Darwin," Cam spoke, looking at the older boy, the family resemblance was clear. He had the same wide almost back eyes as Cam. "Is she ok?"

"Of course she's not Cam," The boy scowled slightly. "You should tell your friends to screw their heads on and think a bit more, we've got enough people out there hurting and killing each other without them two acting stupid and hurting people here."

* * *

"He was really angry with James and Sirius," Taliah commented as she, Lainey, Lily, Cam and Bec sat together on Becs bed that evening. Bec for her part was healed up, but she was told to rest as her arm might still be a bit sore for a few days as it had been dislocated at the shoulder – something which could only be treated the normal muggle way – pushing it back in. "I mean, super angry with them… I thought he was a little harsh."

"Maybe," Cam said slowly, there was hesitation written across his features. "Ever since Olivia was killed, with Louie and Dana, he's not been the same…" She paused trying to find the right words, a very strange thing for the usually confident and vocal Cam. "It's just he's right… People are getting hurt, Think back to our first year, with The Meadowes and Bones'… Mr Meadowes passed away last summer, and the Bones' died instantly… And then My family was attacked, and everyday muggles are being killed or 'disappearing' and look at what happened only a few weeks back, that Auror was killed and his partner put in St Mungos without any arms or legs…" She paused as she remembered the story, it had been gruesome, as had the way they killed Olivia. "People are dying. People are being hurt. And while I don't particularly mind the pranks, why should someone get hurt here unnecessarily, when here we're meant to be safe, but because those two are fooling around suddenly were not…"

"Cam…" Lainey uttered looking at her friend, for years they had carried on as children do, but perhaps now as they begun the slow ascent into adulthood, fifteen years old, the realities of the world beyond these walls were beginning to sink in more than ever. "It was just-"

"It was just a dislocated arm," Cam finished. "And next time it'll be broken and next time it'll be dead…"

"Cam!" Lily suddenly snapped, her voice slightly panicked. "I in no way condone what they do, but I don't think this is just about Sirius and James." Lily paused and looked at her friends, uncertainty filling her. "It wasn't like them outside the walls… It was a stupid, ridiculous nonsense gone out of control… They're idiots, not _His Followers_. It was an accident, yes, someone got hurt, and maybe if things were worse it would have been more serious than a dislocated arm, but it was never intentional. They didn't _mean_ for someone to get hurt."

"As said injured person," Bec suddenly spoke up, her arm still sitting in the sling that Madame Pomfrey had placed around it to help with the resting of her arm. "I can assure you, they feel bad, I mean Sirius came to see me after you went, he was really apologetic, like he really meant it."

Glancing at Bec, Cam shrugged, there was an eerie emptiness on her face, a haunting look which never belonged on the face of a fifteen year old. Maybe more then any of them realised they were affected by what was going on in the outside world. Though, in reality how much was it the outside world? The world beyond these walls was still their world, it was not as much the outside world as they had once thought – as eager eleven year olds, tucked away in relative safety of the castle. Now they realised just how truly part of it they were. Them, and their families.


	19. Chapter 19

"Look at you!" Lily laughed as she ruffled a boys hair, he was tall but with a baby face that betrayed his age. He looked to Lily through the same large emerald eyes that the redhead had, his had short dark blonde hair however, much like his other sister. "How is it in the Hufflepuff common room?"

"It's fine!" The boy answered, squirming away from Lily's hand. "Lily, I'm with my friends!"

"Oh I do apologise Rowan, should I leave you to it, and not reveal all those embarrassing childhood moments?" Lily teased, knowing that Rowan knew well enough that she wouldn't do such a thing to him – though his face went red with the very idea. "Owl mum tonight, I heard from her yesterday."

With that she turned back to her own table, leaving Rowan to sit with the two boys and girl that he seemed to hang out with, Hufflepuffs like himself. It hadn't exactly been a surprise when Rowan had received his letter to Hogwarts, though it had caused a further rift with Petunia, the only non-magical child. However, for some reason Lily had just assumed he'd be a Gryffindor too – he wasn't. It wasn't an issue for the two, and ultimately Lily had decided when he had joined last year that it perhaps made sense; Rowan was quiet and friendly, he always found someone to play with at the park as a child, he had a caring nature to him, not that Gryffindors couldn't be caring, but he was softer than most of the Gryffindor boys that she knew. Either way, he had settled in well to life at Hogwarts, now in his second year.

While Rowan joining Hogwarts hadn't been much of a surprise, it had created a bigger rift in the family, Petunia was absolutely absorbed with her hatred of all things 'freaky' – true Lily couldn't know what is was like to be her sister, with both younger siblings seemingly different, special. When she was left to stay at home, continuing her normal life, going to college, dating that guy that she was going on about all summer.

As the thoughts went through Lily's mind, her beautiful barn owl swooped down before her as she sat at the Gryffindor table. Dropping the letter as Lily fed her a piece of sausage from her plate, she picked up the letter not recognising the handwriting. She opened it curiously.

_Dear Miss Lily Evans, _

_You are invited to join The Braga Broom Fleet, to participate in the Schools Annual Broom Race. This an event jointly hosted by Braga Broom Fleet and Beauxbatons. _

_You will be given accommodation close to the track at a local resort, up to a week prior to the event. _

_We look forward to your participation in this event. _

_Leticia Morgez_

_Schools Annual Broom Race Organiser. _

"Miss Evans," A familiar voice spoke and Lily turned to see Professor McGonagall stood behind her, a rueful smile on her face. "It looks as if you will be the first student from Hogwarts competing in the broom race for many years, the arrangements have all been sent to myself, you will be unable to take any guests to the trials, however, Madame Hooch is still happy to attend with you. Perhaps it might be an idea to increase your training. I'd very much like to see a student from my house make it into this prestigious event."

"Yes, of course, Professor McGonagall." Lily responded with a grin, McGonagall flicked her eyes towards the headmaster before leaning in slightly.

"And between you and me, I do think those Beauxbatons students could do with some healthy competition."

* * *

"So you finally got it then?" Dale asked as he strolled with Lily towards the quidditch pitch that afternoon, his hand encasing hers. It wasn't quite cold, out in the afternoon, but gone was the warmth that had been carried in the sun's rays in the summer. He had offered to join her on her trip down to the pitch, as the girls politely declined, Lily had smiled at it – they weren't exactly subtle as they made kissy noises as Dale and Lily left. "I can't believe that Hogwarts is finally taking part again, I guess we're bigger on our quidditch here then the other schools."

"Beauxbatons have quidditch teams," Lily informed him with a grin across her face. "Apparently we're the only ones who can't focus on two things at once."

"Whatever you say Evans," Dale shrugged off, looking at Lily through the corner of his eye, a glint of teasing held there. He stopped, tugging Lily towards him, she bumped into his chest with a giggle, quickly untangling her hand from his and wrapping her arms around his waist. Them together like this was funny in so many ways, Dale basically encased her totally. He was a good head taller then her, his shoulders so much wider, Lily wasn't short, but she was slightly willowy. "We've just got _other_ things to concentrate on."

"Yeah, like what?"

"Beautiful girls with red hair and green eyes." Heat rushed to her cheeks as her heart fluttered, she pushed herself up on her tiptoes, placing a soft kiss to Dales lips, as his arms wrapped around her, holding her close as she did so. "We should go to the pitch, you gotta lot of training to do."

"That I do," Lily agreed, finally placing both her feet fully on the ground. She smiled at Dale who smiled back, before they wandered together towards the quidditch pitch. "Beat ya too it!"

* * *

"Nymphadora! Get here you little brat!" The words were laughed and held so much fondness that even though they seemed misplaced when called to a small child that was running around the legs of the other customers, they were still seemingly correct. Especially when directed at the girl who appeared to have a bright blue ballerina bun atop her head paired with skin that was a strange shade of pink. "Nymphadora! You look ridiculous! Next you'll have a beak like a duck!" Instantly the other patrons heard the woman curse to herself and the unmistakable sounds of a duck quacking. "That wasn't- I didn't…. Oh Nymphadora!"

Finally, which a lurch, the woman caught the struggling child in her arms, relieved to see at last that she had returned to her more normal features of a heart shaped face with brown curls, the beautiful daughter she had given birth to.

"Nymphadora?" A voice repeated, sounding quite horrified as she did – it was clearly feminine. "Couldn't you have called her something else? Andromeda, Nymphadora isn't very becoming of the Black family name."

"Good job that she's a Tonks then," Andromeda replied, barely managing to keep hold of her young daughter as she looked to the woman. She nearly lost her breath, it had been so long, but nothing had changed. The woman was still beautiful, graceful and everything you would expect in an angel. Her blonde hair was perfectly pulled back, her clothes fit like a second skin. Apparently the finances that came with her marriage had suited her well – she was immaculate. "Nymphadora is a name both me and Ted liked."

"Well, I guess that's all that matters." The woman said, though there was a stiffness in her voice. "You look well sister."

"As do you, Narcissa," Andromeda replied, looking away from her sister, in all their years, for everything that had happened, Andromeda had not been prepared for the awkwardness that would stretch between them if they were to meet again. "I hope you are well."

"I am, thank you," The blonde replied, she looked around the shop, no one was in this quiet section the child had run to, Narcissa looked at the child. Oddly, she looked nothing like a Black. She had her mothers curls, a heart shaped face, but her features did not match – she had large expressive eyes, and she wasn't elven like Narcissa, Andromeda or Bellatrix, but pixish. And then that all changed and she suddenly had a snout like a dragon. "A Metamorphmagus?"

"Yes, She erm… Well, she changes at will." Andromeda admitted sheepishly.

"Interesting, she'll make a good Auror, I hear that's an entire section of the training," Narcissa spoke before she had thought, how foolish of her, though she never let her annoyance at herself show. "I should go, Lucius is not far behind."

"Yes, yes, of course," Andromeda nodded, looking suddenly lost. She noticed as Nymphadoras features slowly transformed into those very similar to her blonde haired sister, for a second Andromeda saw her sister smile, she lifted her hand and stroked the rosy cheek of Nymphadora before turning and swiftly leaving the shop. The ringing of the bell over the door finally signalling her exit. "That Nymphadora was your Aunt Narcissa, I couldn't save her in time, I couldn't change her future, but it's ok, we're going to make sure that what happened to her, never happens again."

* * *

"Are you sure?" Her voice was quiet, almost a whisper, tainted with fear and excitement, both equally measured.

"Certain. Do know what your next steps are?"

"No, not yet, I hadn't really… I dunno, I hadn't thought this far ahead y'know," She pushed herself up into a sitting position, uncertainty flooding through her body, filling her with a sense of regret. How foolish, this was not the ideal. This was not part of the plan. Not yet. "Is that stupid?"

"Not stupid, careless, but not stupid."

"Give it to me straight, why don't ya."

"You asked," The other woman replied with a laugh, she sat down opposite her patient. "Look, Emmeline, no one is ever prepared for this. Sometimes you just have to take what life throws at you, run with it, in whatever direction works best for you. The world is in chaos right now, there is no easy decision, and it has got to be based purely on what you want to do. Only you can know."

"Only me?" Emmeline squeaked.

"Well, only you and your husband," The woman replied with a grin. "Where is he today? When I saw your name on the list I was looking forward to seeing him, much more attractive to look at then most the husbands we get in here." Emmeline laughed, she liked this Healer, she had a sense of humour, so few did these days.

"Working, keeping the world safe, being a general superhero," Emmeline replied off hand, pulling herself together, grabbing her bag. "That kinda stuff."

The woman went quiet for a moment, pausing in thought before looking at Emmeline with a strong intense stare.

"I know that there's stuff going out in that world, but you should know, both you and your husband are superheroes, all Aurors are, I mean Christ, I sleep well at night knowing that there is someone out there protecting me and my family. In these dark, dangerous days, it's the thought of you Aurors that keep the nightmares at bay." She said earnestly. "I don't think you guys get enough credit, I know the Daily Prophet keeps demanding to have those responsible bought to justice, but I know it's not that easy, yet you guys keep slogging on. I hope it finishes soon, that this ends, but I just have this niggle that it won't. Until then, I know I can rely on you guys."

Shocked, Emmeline blinked at the healer, knowing exactly what she meant but surprised at how earnestly and openly she said it. So many people spoke in hushed whispers about their world these days, hiding from the darkness that was lurking out there – so few believed that the Auror Department was doing enough, not understanding that all they were working with was smoke and mirrors – everything was so elusive.

"Thank you."

* * *

"Em, what's going on?" She had been sat at her desk, pen in hand, hovering over a report that she was halfway through writing when she had gotten lost in her own mind, every thought she had running wildly around, terrifying her slowly but surely. She blinked, crashing back to reality and looked towards the source of news that had brought her back – she spotted her husband stood in the doorway, looking confused and concerned as he looked at her expectantly. Only she could not remember what he had just said. "Well? Dad wouldn't tell me anything, but he's going out tomorrow with Foster and Gallium, why Gallium and not you?" Sure, he was talking, and the individual words all made sense, however as she sat there blinking at him, half here and half elsewhere, she couldn't quite understand the sentences. What was he asking her? Did she do something? Did he know? She blinked. Her facial expressions seemed to give something away to him as he stepped forward, looking even more concerned. "Em?"

"Huh?"

"Are you alright?" He looked concerned, stepping forward towards her, kneeling down by her chair, his large hands taking in her own.

People talk of finding the one – she remembered her mother describing the feeling of warmth that filled her every time her husband enveloped her in his arms. At fifteen that had seemed quite a gross idea, but as She sat there now, her husbands hands encasing her own, she could feel that warmth spread through her. It was reassuring, she knew he was there, but not just physically, he was with her in every way.

"Tom, I'm pregnant."


End file.
